James Wolcott (born 10 December 1952 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American journalist, known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and contributes to The New Yorker. He also writes a blog.

Born in the suburbs of Baltimore, Wolcott attended Maryland's Frostburg State College for two years. From there, he moved to New York City to work at The Village Voice.

Since then, Wolcott has been a columnist on media and pop culture for publications such as Esquire, Harper's Magazine, the New York Review of Books, and New York Magazine. He was lured to Vanity Fair by the late Leo Lerman, then the magazine's editor.

Wolcott wrote a novel, The Catsitters, published in 2001. In 2004, he published Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, a critique of right-wing media in the US. In addition, he recently contributed the foreword to Geoffrey Beene's forthcoming book, Identity.

He is married to Laura Jacobs, a contributing editor of Vanity Fair.

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