John Barrett "Jay" McInerney, Jr. (; born January 13, 1955) is an American
novelist. 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 (2000) and
A Hedonist in the Cellar (2006). 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.