Nicole Cliffe
Born (1982-09-02) September 2, 1982
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

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

Early career

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

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

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

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

  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. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (May 3, 2013). "Nicole Cliffe is Leaving The Hairpin to Start New Site". Observer. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  11. 1 2 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 3 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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