Kira Peikoff | |
---|---|
Born | Kira Lily Peikoff May 21, 1985 |
Occupation | Novelist, journalist |
Nationality | American |
Education | New York University (BA) Columbia University |
Period | Late 2000s–present |
Genre | Thriller |
Spouse |
Matthew Seth Beilis (m. 2012) |
Website | |
KiraPeikoff.com |
Kira Lily Peikoff (/ˈpiːkɒf/; born May 21, 1985)[1][2] is a journalist and novelist, based in New York City.[3]
Kira Peikoff was born to Objectivist scholar Leonard Peikoff and his then-wife Cynthia Pastor Peikoff, a psychotherapist in private practice.[2] She was named after the protagonist of Ayn Rand's We the Living.[4][5] She grew up in Irvine, California, being home-schooled[4] and then attending Woodbridge High School.[6] In 2007, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in journalism from New York University.[7]
During her undergraduate internships, Peikoff wrote about Congressional politics for the Orange County Register[6][8] and about business and technology for Newsday.[9][10] She also researched feature stories for New York magazine[11] and wrote for the New York Daily News.[12]
After graduation, Peikoff worked as an editorial assistant for Henry Holt and Company and for Random House. Since 2013, she has worked as a freelance journalist on health and science, having written articles for The New York Times,[13][14] Slate,[15] Salon,[16] Cosmopolitan,[17] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[18] Psychology Today[19] and The Hastings Center Report.[20]
When Peikoff was 13 years old, Gone with the Wind inspired her to become a novelist.[21] In 2008, Peikoff finished writing her debut novel, Living Proof,[6] having taken a year off after university to write it,[22] and in February 2012, it was published.[23] The book, inspired by her disgust toward President George W. Bush's opposition to stem-cell research,[6] is a dystopian thriller set in a future time when embryo destruction is legally considered first-degree murder and fertility clinics are severely regulated by the government. The novel received largely positive reviews, among them a mildly positive review by Publishers Weekly,[24] a mildly negative review by Kirkus Reviews,[23] and positive reviews by Suspense Magazine[25] and Mystery Scene magazine.[26]
No Time to Die, a second biomedical thriller by Peikoff, was published in September 2014, receiving mildly positive reviews by the Romantic Times[27] and NJ.com.[28]
Peikoff is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.[29]
She is also the editor-in-chief of the science publication Leaps.org.