American writer John Berendt was BOTD in 1939. Born in Syracuse, New York, he studied at Harvard University, and moved to New York City to become a journalist. After writing for television presenters Dick Cavett and David Frost, he became the editor of New York magazine, and wrote a monthly column for Esquire for over 20 years. He is best known for his 1994 non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a portrait of the eccentric residents of Savannah, Georgia, focusing on the trial of discreetly gay antiques dealer Jim Williams for the murder of his lover (and local rent boy) Danny Hansford. Berendt’s gossipy narrative moved effortlessly between the social strata of Savannah, profiling genteel society balls, ladies’ bridge clubs and gay bars. His most memorable interviewee was The Lady Chablis, a trans African-American performer whose acerbic wit and plain-speaking potty mouth provides a corrective to the town’s performative gentility. An international bestseller, Midnight was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, and created a tourist boom in Savannah. Clint Eastwood’s bland film version followed in 1997 (with Berendt’s character played by John Cusack as a dull heterosexual) followed by a musical adaptation in 2024. Berendt’s 2005 book The City of Falling Angels profiled the gay English and American expatriate community of Venice in the early 20th century. Openly gay since forever, he lives in New York. His relationship status is unknown.