Warren St. John, the author of Outcasts United, is an American author, journalist, and news media publisher. St. John was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1969 and attended Birmingham’s prestigious Altamont School. He graduated from Columbia University in 1991. From 2002 to 2008, St. John was a staff writer for The New York Times, primarily publishing long-form sports and culture features. As a journalist, St. John is perhaps best known for his role in the infamous JT LeRoy literary hoax. In 2006, St. John published an article identifying for the first time both the true author of the works supposedly written by LeRoy and the actor who had been pretending to be LeRoy in media appearances. St. John is currently the president of Patch, a hyper-local news organization based in New York.

St. John is the author of two books about sports culture and American society—his first book, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip Into the Heart of Fan Mania was published in 2004. Like Outcasts United, it uses sports culture to explore larger questions about American identity and social issues. The book chronicles the 1999 University of Alabama football season as St. John follows the team in an RV alongside a collection of devoted fans.