Emily St. James (born Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; November 30, 1982) is an American critic, journalist, podcaster, television writer, and author. She is best known for her television criticism, having served as the first TV editor of The A.V. Club and later as critic-at-large for Vox. She is a writer on the television series Yellowjackets and published her debut novel, Woodworking, in 2025.
Early Life and Education
St. James was born in Armour, South Dakota, and was adopted as a baby. She graduated from South Dakota State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, where she wrote for the university's student publication, The Collegian.
Career
Criticism and Journalism
From 2009 to 2014, St. James served as TV editor for The A.V. Club, where she helped build the TV Club, a section known for episode-by-episode television criticism that has been credited with helping build the online culture of television recaps. In June 2014, she joined Vox as culture editor and later became its critic-at-large. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Vulture, Grantland, and Slant Magazine, among others.
She was a finalist in the 2015 Online Journalism Awards for her cultural criticism. She has also been involved in the true crime parody podcast Arden and hosted Vox's television history podcast Primetime.
Books
In 2018, St. James co-wrote Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files with Zack Handlen, published by Tor Books. In 2024, she co-wrote Lost: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series with Noel Murray. Her debut novel, Woodworking, was published by Zando in March 2025. The novel is a coming-of-age story set in Mitchell, South Dakota, about Erica Skyberg, a high school teacher and closeted trans woman who enlists the help of a trans student to navigate coming out.
Television Writing
St. James joined the writers' room of the Showtime series Yellowjackets for its third season, receiving writing credits for the sixth episode, broadcast in March 2025.
Personal Life
St. James came out as a trans woman in 2019. She was interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday about her experience with gender identity. She is a founding member of the Trans Journalists Association and helped create its style guide for journalists writing about transgender people and issues.
She has been married to writer Libby Hill since 2003. She changed her surname from VanDerWerff to St. James in January 2022. St. James and Hill have one child, born in 2022.
