Phoebe Eaton

Phoebe Eaton is a journalist, playwright, author, and screenwriter. She has contributed to publications including The New York Times Magazine, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, the New York Post, and Harper’s Bazaar. Eaton is the author of In the Thrall of the Mountain King: The Secret History of El Chapo, the World’s Most Notorious Narco.

Eaton holds a bachelor of arts degree in English literature from the University of Chicago. She also took contributing coursework at Harvard University and Columbia University.

Eaton has worked as a journalist since 2008. She has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, the New York Post, Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, Air Mail, The Daily Beast, and the Guardian. Eaton is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She is known for her reports on the trial of drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Guzmán is the subject of Eaton's book In The Thrall of the Mountain King: The Secret History of El Chapo, the World's Most Notorious Narco, which was published in 2019.

Eaton's published plays include A Field Guide to the Amazon, Woman Descending a Staircase, and Pan. Her theater work relates to issues including mental illness, immigration, veterans, women, identity, race, sexuality, crime, business, and government. Eaton is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Eaton has received multiple awards for her journalism. She was awarded a New York Press Club Award in 2017, a Front Page Award in 2020, three National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards from 2020 to 2021, and Mexico's International Journalism Award in 2021.

Eaton has also been awarded for her work as a screenwriter. She is a past winner of the Scriptapalooza Television Writing Competition. She was a finalist for the 2018 Imagine Entertainment Impact Content Accelerator, the 2019 Writers Guild East MINY Writers Room, the 2022 TrackingB TV Script Award, and the 2023 Harvardwood Writers Competition. Eaton's play A Field Guide to the Amazon was a finalist for the 2018–2019 ScreenCraft Stage Play Award. Woman Descending a Staircase was a finalist for the 2017–2018 Woodward-Newman Drama Award, and in 2019, it was shortlisted for the Austin Film Festival Stage Play/Playwriting Award. Her play Pan was shortlisted for the 2016–2017 Stanley Drama Award.