John Barrett McInerney Jr. is an American writer and food critic. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City, Ransom, Story of My Life, Brightness Falls, and The Last of the Savages. He edited The Penguin Book of New American Voices, wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaptation of Bright Lights, Big City, and co-wrote the screenplay for the television film Gia, which starred Angelina Jolie. He was the wine columnist for House & Garden magazine, and his essays on wine have been collected in Bacchus & Me and A Hedonist in the Cellar. His most recent novel is titled The Good Life, published in 2006, and since April 2010 he has been a wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal. In 2009, he published a book of short stories which spanned his entire career, entitled How It Ended, which was named one of the 10 best books of the year by Janet Maslin of The New York Times. 

January 13th, 1955 in New York City (Age 69)