Nicole Cliffe

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. As of 2019, Cliffe co-writes a parenting advice column at Slate called "Care and Feeding."

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 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]

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[]

External links[]

• Slate
• Nicole Knows
• The Toast