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Nicole Cliffe

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Nicole Cliffe
Born (1982-09-02) September 2, 1982 (age 42)
Alma materHarvard College
Occupation(s)Writer, editor, executive producer
Known forThe Toast

Nicole Cliffe (born September 2, 1982) is a Canadian writer living in Utah, who co-founded and co-edited the website The Toast with Daniel Lavery.

Early life

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Nicole Cliffe was born September 2, 1982,[1][2] and grew up in Kingston, Ontario.[3] A first-generation college student,[4] she attended Harvard College on a full scholarship, studying English.[3][5] She graduated in 2005.[6] At Harvard, her friends included future journalists Amelia Lester, Matthew Yglesias, and Josh Barro.[7]

Career

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Early career

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Cliffe worked at a New York hedge fund[3] before becoming a writer. She drew attention for a Tumblr entitled Lazy Self-Indulgent Book Reviews[8] as well as a recurring book review column on The Awl called "Classic Trash".[9] In June 2011, Cliffe joined the Awl-network women's general interest site The Hairpin,[10] where she became book editor.[5][11][12] Through this work, Cliffe met future collaborator Daniel Lavery, first over the internet, then later in person.[13]

The Toast

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Main article: The Toast

Cliffe and Lavery left The Hairpin in 2013 to found a separate feminist general interest website The Toast, which Cliffe and Lavery co-edited, later adding Nicole Chung as managing editor and Jaya Saxena as a staff writer.[14] (Lawyer Nick Pavich was originally the publisher and one-third owner of the site, but departed in the winter of 2013–2014).[15][11][16] Cliffe and her husband funded the site's launch.[15] The Toast published from July 1, 2013,[10] until July 1, 2016.[17] From October 15, 2014, to September 2015,[18] the project also included a sister site called The Butter; led by Roxane Gay, The Butter focused on personal essays and cultural criticism.[19] The Toast made a one-day return with new material on July 26, 2017.[20]

Writing and other projects

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In addition to her editing and book reviews, Cliffe has drawn notice for her writing on a wide range of topics, including humor pieces,[21][22] collegiate financial aid,[17] and Protestant Christianity.[17] She has written advice columns for Elle and Catapult's magazine,[23][24] and in January 2018, became an advice columnist, with Carvell Wallace, at Slate. Their column, offering parenting advice, is called "Care and Feeding".[25] She left Slate in 2020.

In December 2017, Cliffe joined the board of directors of Electric Literature.[26]

In October 2019, Cliffe was credited as an executive producer for the documentary "The Acid King", based on the non-fiction book of the same name about the life of Ricky Kasso.[27]

In June 2020, Cliffe told Vox she was writing a horror novel,[28] which she later confirmed via Twitter.

Personal life

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Cliffe lives in Utah with her husband and three children.[3][5] An atheist since college, she converted to Christianity in 2015.[29] She is autistic, as is one of her children.[30]

References

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  1. ^ Cliffe, Nicole (September 2, 2018). "'it's my birthday...'". Twitter. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  2. ^ Cliffe, Nicole (September 2, 2018). "'(I'm 36 now...'". Twitter. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d Hogan, Brianne (November 24, 2015). "Nicole Cliffe: Editor, Tweeter, Proud Canadian". Ravishly. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  4. ^ Chung, Nicole; Cliffe, Nicole (May 13, 2015). "Let's Get Personal: On Full Financial Aid at Fancy Schools". The Toast. Archived from the original on January 28, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "The Nicole Cliffe and Mallory Ortberg Interview". Zulkey. November 22, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  6. ^ Lester, Amelia (January–February 2005). "Homecomings". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  7. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (February 4, 2014). "I've Been Underestimating Facebook for 10 Years". Slate. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  8. ^ Cliffe, Nicole. "Lazy, self-indulgent reviews of science fiction books". io9. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  9. ^ Bellocchio, Violetta (July 27, 2012). "Nicole Cliffe: il vostro critico di "libri da ombrellone"". Grazia (in Italian). Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (May 3, 2013). "Nicole Cliffe is Leaving The Hairpin to Start New Site". Observer. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  11. ^ a b Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (July 2013). "Nicole Cliffe and Mallory Ortberg's The Toast Pops Up". Observer. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  12. ^ Cliffe, Nicole. "Nicole Cliffe talks money". The Toast. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  13. ^ Ortberg, Mallory (September 26, 2016). "The Companions of My Heart". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  14. ^ "Contact The Toast". The Toast. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  15. ^ a b Greenfield, Rebecca (October 1, 2014). "The Toast's Recipe For Bootstrapping A Profitable Media Business". Fast Company. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  16. ^ Vargas-Cooper, Natasha. "Publisher of The Toast Nick Pavich Is Out for Murky Reasons". Jezebel. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  17. ^ a b c Slate Staff (May 13, 2016). "A Toast to The Toast". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  18. ^ Gay, Roxane (August 28, 2015). "A Buttery Farewell". The Toast. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  19. ^ Todd, Carolyn (October 1, 2014). "On the Books: 'Bad Feminist' author launches The Toast sister site". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  20. ^ Colburn, Randall (July 27, 2016). "Beloved website The Toast reappeared for a single day". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  21. ^ Coates, Ta-Nehisi. "Hey Everybody, an Old Man Is Talking". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  22. ^ Read, Max. "The Awl and the Hairpin's Best Stories, Remembered by Their Writers". Select All. New York Magazine. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  23. ^ "Nicole Cliffe". ELLE. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  24. ^ "Catapult | Nicole Knows". Catapult. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  25. ^ Wallace, Carvell; Cliffe, Nicole. "What Do I Say to a 13-Year-Old Friend of the Family Who's Madly in Love … With Me?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  26. ^ "We're Wildly Excited to Welcome Nicole Cliffe to the Electric Literature Board of Directors". Electric Literature. December 8, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  27. ^ "Twitter". twitter.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  28. ^ "Watch: The Vox Book Club talks the Secret History's class politics with Nicole Cliffe". June 3, 2020.
  29. ^ Cliffe, Nicole (May 20, 2016). "How God Messed Up My Happy Atheist Life". Christianity Today. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  30. ^ Cliffe, Nicole (March 23, 2020). "The Coronavirus Lockdown Has Ruined My Son's Senior Year". Slate. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
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