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Kira Peikoff

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Kira Peikoff
BornKira Lily Peikoff
(1985-05-21) May 21, 1985 (age 39)
OccupationNovelist, journalist
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNew York University (B.A.)
Columbia University
PeriodLate 2000s–present
GenreThriller
Spouse
Matthew Seth Beilis
​
(m. 2012)​
Website
www.kirapeikoff.com

Kira Lily Peikoff (born May 21,[1] 1985)[2] is a journalist and novelist, based in New York City.[3]

Personal life

Kira Peikoff was born to Objectivist scholar Leonard S. Peikoff and his then-wife Cynthia Pastor Peikoff, a psychotherapist in private practice.[2] Kira Peikoff is the ex-stepdaughter of her father's third ex-wife, Amy Lynn Peikoff.[4] Through her father she is also related to Barbara Branden, who was her cousin once removed.

Kira Peikoff was named after the protagonist in Ayn Rand's We the Living.[5][6] She grew up in Irvine, California, being home-schooled[5] and then attending Woodbridge High School.[7] Peikoff was raised with Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, but it was after having read Rand's Atlas Shrugged in college that Peikoff decided to embrace Objectivism for herself.[8] In 2007, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in Journalism from New York University.[4]

At a ceremony in Laguna Beach, California, in June 2012, Peikoff married Matthew Seth Beilis, a musician, salesman and graduate of Columbia University. She continues to use her maiden name professionally.[2] She lives in New York City with her husband and their dog.[3]

Peikoff is currently studying for a Master of Science degree in Bioethics at Columbia University.[9]

Career

During her undergraduate Internships, Peikoff wrote about Congressional politics for the Orange County Register[7][10] and about business and technology for Newsday.[11][12] She also researched feature stories for New York magazine[13] and wrote for the New York Daily News.[14]

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,[15][16] Slate,[17] Salon,[18] Cosmopolitan,[19] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[20] Psychology Today[21] and The Hastings Center Report.[22]

When Peikoff was thirteen years old, Gone with the Wind inspired her to become a novelist.[23] In 2008, Peikoff finished writing her debut novel, Living Proof,[7] having taken a year off after university to write it,[24] and in February 2012 it was published.[25] The book, inspired by her disgust towards President George W. Bush's opposition to stem-cell research,[7] 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,[26] a mildly negative review by Kirkus Reviews,[25] and positive reviews by Suspense magazine[27] and Mystery Scene magazine.[28]

No Time to Die, a second biomedical thriller by Peikoff, was published in September 2014, receiving mildly positive reviews by the Romantic Times[29] and NJ.com.[30]

Peikoff is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.[31]

References

  1. ^ "Kira Peikoff". Twitter. May 21, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Kira Peikoff, Matthew Beilis". The New York Times. June 17, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "About the Author". Kira Peikoff. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Heller, Anne C. (2009), Ayn Rand and the World She Made, New York: Doubleday, p. 413, ISBN 978-0-385-51399-9, OCLC 229027437.
  5. ^ a b Ybarra, Michael J. (August 16, 1998). "Preserving the Fountainhead". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  6. ^ "Could you define your reasons for choosing Kira as your daughter's name?". Leonard Peikoff. April 2, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d Lopez, Alicia. "Former Woodbridge student pens suspense novel". Orange County Register. August 21, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  8. ^ "Book Brahmin: Kira Peikoff". Shelf Awareness. Shelf Awareness. March 30, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  9. ^ "What Inspires Journalist and Thriller Author Kira Peikoff? Bioethics.". Columbia University. May 7, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  10. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Law keeps eyes on sex criminals". Orange County Register. August 21, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  11. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Big savings for the nest". Newsday. February 23, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  12. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Gas retailers deny big profit". Newsday. May 1, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  13. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Israeli Egg Farming". New York. October 24, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  14. ^ "Articles by Kira Peikoff". Daily News. Daily News. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  15. ^ Brandom, Russell (December 30, 2013). "A Times reporter took three genetic tests and got three wildly different answers". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  16. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Fearing Punishment for Bad Genes". The New York Times. April 7, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  17. ^ "Kira Peikoff". Slate. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  18. ^ "Kira Peikoff". Salon. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  19. ^ "Kira Peikoff". Cosmopolitan. Hearst Corporation. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  20. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Personhood vs. stem cell research". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. May 25, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  21. ^ "Experts: Kira Peikoff". Psychology Today. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  22. ^ Peikoff, Kira. "Beware the Biomarkers for Criminal Behavior". The Hastings Center Report. July/August 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  23. ^ "Gives Voice to Those Who Have None: An Interview with Kira Peikoff" (PDF). Suspense. February 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  24. ^ Petit, Zachary. "Important Writing Lessons From First-Time Novelists". Writer's Digest. January 7, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  25. ^ a b "Living Proof". Kirkus Reviews. December 19, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  26. ^ "Living Proof". Publishers Weekly. December 12, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  27. ^ Lignor, Amy (February 2012). "Suspense Magazine Review of "Living Proof" by Kira Peikoff" (PDF). Suspense. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  28. ^ Mack, Debbi. "Books: Living Proof by Kira Peikoff". Mystery Scene. KBS Communications. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  29. ^ Ayers, Jeff. "NO TIME TO DIE". RT Book Reviews. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  30. ^ Cutler, Jacqueline (November 23, 2014). "Montclair writer's thriller focuses on staying forever young". NJ.com. New Jersey On-Line. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  31. ^ "Search Members Results". American Society of Journalists and Authors. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
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