Kira Peikoff

Kira Peikoff
Born Kira Lily Peikoff
May 21, 1985
Occupation Novelist, journalist
Nationality American
Alma mater New York University (B.A.)
Columbia University
Period Late 2000s–present
Genre Thriller
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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Kira Peikoff, Matthew Beilis". The New York Times. June 17, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "About the Author". Kira Peikoff. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 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. ↑ 5.0 5.1 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. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 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. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "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.

External links