Emily St. James
Emily St. James (born November 30, 1982) is an American critic, journalist, podcaster, TV writer, and author who focuses on television. She grew up in Armour, South Dakota, and earned a BA in journalism from South Dakota State University in 2004, where she wrote for The Collegian.
She was The A.V. Club’s TV editor from 2009 to 2014, helping build the site’s popular episode-by-episode TV coverage. In 2014 she joined Vox as culture editor and later became Vox’s critic at large. She also works on podcasts such as Arden and Primetime, and has written for outlets including The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Grantland, and Slant Magazine. She was a finalist for Online Journalism Awards in 2015 for her horror-film criticism, coverage of Hillary Clinton’s campaign announcement, and a Mad Max: Fury Road review.
St. James co-wrote Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files (2018) with Zack Handlen, and Lost: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series (2024) with Noel Murray. After leaving Vox, she moved into novel and TV writing, joining the Yellowjackets writers’ room for season 3 and earning a writing credit for episode 6 in March 2025. Her debut novel, Woodworking, was published by Zando in March 2025; it’s about a closeted trans teacher in Mitchell, South Dakota who seeks help coming out from a transgender student.
St. James publicly came out as a trans woman in 2019. She spoke with NPR about her gender and helped found the Trans Journalists Association, contributing to its style guide. She is married to writer Libby Hill since 2003; she changed her last name from VanDerWerff to St. James in January 2022, and they welcomed a child in 2022.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:52 (CET).