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Daniel M. Lavery

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Daniel M. Lavery
Lavery in 2018
Born (1986-11-28) November 28, 1986 (age 39)
EducationAzusa Pacific University
OccupationWriter
SpouseGrace Lavery
RelativesJohn Ortberg (father)
Writing career
Period21st century
GenresSatire
Short fiction
Advice
Notable worksThe Toast
Texts from Jane Eyre
The Merry Spinster
Something That May Shock and Discredit You
Krombopulos Michael
Women's Hotel
Websitedanielmlavery.com

Daniel M. Lavery[1][2] (born Mallory Ortberg,[3] November 28, 1986)[4] is an American author and editor. He is known for having co-founded the website The Toast, and for having written the books Texts from Jane Eyre (2014), The Merry Spinster (2018), Something That May Shock and Discredit You (2020), and Women's Hotel (2024). Lavery wrote Slate's Dear Prudence advice column from 2016 to 2021. From 2022 to 2023, he hosted a podcast on Slate titled Big Mood, Little Mood. In 2017, Lavery started a paid e-mail newsletter titled Shatner Chatner,[5][6] renamed to The Chatner in 2021.[7]

Early life

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Born Mallory Ortberg on November 28, 1986, Lavery grew up in Northern Illinois and then San Francisco,[3] one of three children of evangelical Christian author and former Menlo Church pastor John Ortberg and pastor and former CEO of Transforming the Bay with Christ Nancy Ortberg.[8][9] Lavery attended Azusa Pacific University,[10] a private evangelical Christian university in California. While a student, Lavery appeared on Jeopardy! in 2009 and finished in third place.[11][12]

Writing

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Influences

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Lavery has credited the work of Shirley Jackson, in particular her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress as influential.[13]

Career overview

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Lavery wrote for Gawker and The Hairpin.[14][15] Through this work, he met Nicole Cliffe, with whom he operated The Toast, a feminist general interest web site,[16] from July 2013 to July 2016.[8]

Lavery was included in the 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 list in the media category.[17] On November 9, 2015, Slate announced that he would take over the magazine's Dear Prudence advice column from Emily Yoffe.[18] Lavery stopped writing the column in May 2021.[19]

In 2017, Lavery launched Shatner Chatner, a paid e-mail newsletter.[5][6] On May 19, 2021, he accepted a Substack Pro deal and shortened the newsletter's name to The Chatner.[7] The Substack Pro program ended in 2022, although Lavery still writes the newsletter.[20]

Books

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Texts from Jane Eyre

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Lavery's first book, Texts from Jane Eyre, was released in November 2014[21][22] and became a New York Times best seller.[23] The book was based on a column that he wrote first at The Hairpin, then continued at The Toast,[14] which imagines well-known literary characters exchanging text messages. The premise was inspired by a comments section thread on a piece Cliffe had written for The Awl; on Cliffe's review of Gone With the Wind, a commenter wrote that their experience in the South was nearly identical to the novel "except everybody has cell phones". This prompted Lavery to imagine how Scarlett O'Hara might have used a cell phone.[24]

Rick and Morty Presents: Krombopulos Michael

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Lavery's first comic one-shot, titled Rick and Morty Presents: Krombopulos Michael, was published by Oni Press on June 20, 2018, following the Rick and Morty character of the same name.[25]

The Merry Spinster

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His short story collection, The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror (Henry Holt, 2018), was published in 2018.[26][27] The book, Lavery's second release, was highly anticipated, with Publishers Weekly, Bustle, The A.V. Club, and InStyle Australia including it in their lists of forthcoming titles in 2018.[28][29][30][31] The Merry Spinster reinvents fairy tales such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast; in the Los Angeles Times, Agatha French described his renderings as making the "stories both weirder and yet somehow more familiar".[13]

Something That May Shock and Discredit You

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Lavery's third book, a memoir titled Something That May Shock and Discredit You, was published in February 2020 by Simon & Schuster.[32] It was originally published as individual essays.[33]

Women's Hotel

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Lavery's fourth book, a novel titled Women's Hotel, was published in October 2024 by HarperVia.[34] He released the follow-up, Christmas at the Women's Hotel, in October 2025.[35]

Personal life

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Lavery identifies as queer.[8] In February 2018, he spoke to Autostraddle about the process of gender transitioning while writing The Merry Spinster.[36] The following month, Lavery was interviewed by Heather Havrilesky in New York magazine's The Cut about coming out as transgender.[37]

In November 2018, Lavery and his girlfriend, Grace Lavery, a professor of English at U.C. Berkeley[38][39] and "the most followed transgender scholar in the world on social media",[40] announced their engagement.[41] They got married in December 2019.[42][43] In 2020, they formed a throuple with Lily Woodruff, and together they are raising a son.[44]

References

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  1. ↑ Lavery, Daniel (October 31, 2019). "A Halloween Compendium From The DMO-L Archives". Retrieved September 16, 2026.
  2. ↑ Shane, Charlotte (March 12, 2018). "Daniel Mallory Ortberg Would Like to Eat Breakfast Like a French Duke". MyRecipes. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Ortberg, Mallory (November 17, 2012). "Have You Heard the One About the Religious Woman Who Stops Being Religious in College?". Gawker. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
  4. ↑ Lavery, Daniel M. [@daniel_m_lavery] (November 28, 2017). "IT IS MY THIRTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY AND I AM HAPPY" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. 1 2 Guthrie Weissman, Cale (December 1, 2017). "The Toast's Mallory Ortberg Is Bringing Her Beloved Content Back–For A Price". Fast Company. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Benton, Joshua (December 1, 2017). "Stratechery, but for jokes about Frasier: Mallory Ortberg tries the paid newsletter route". Nieman Lab. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Lavery, Daniel. "Pivoting, Softly: Welcome To The Chatner". The Chatner. Substack. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Scoles, Sarah (June 13, 2017). "Mallory Ortberg's Internet". Motherboard. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ Anugrah, Kumar (May 13, 2013). "Motherhood a 'Two-way Street' Former Willow Creek Pastor Shares". The Christian Post. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  10. ↑ Lipstein, Andrew (September 29, 2015). "The Art of Commerce: Episode XXX: 'I wouldn't want to reassure my past self. 'Keep panicking'.'". 0s&1s. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Show #5816, aired 2009-12-21". J! Archive. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Mallory Ortberg". J! Archive. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  13. 1 2 French, Agatha (March 8, 2018). "Mallory Ortberg on the remixed fairy tales of her new book 'The Merry Spinster'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  14. 1 2 Galo, Sarah (November 3, 2014). "Mallory Ortberg: 'If men show up that's great, but we don't need them'". The Guardian. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  15. ↑ Kott, Lidia Jean (November 3, 2014). "Mallory Ortberg And Her (Small) Media Empire". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  16. ↑ Lange, Maggie (October 30, 2014). "Mallory Ortberg on the Great Jerks of Literature". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ Inverso, Emily (January 5, 2015). "2015 30 under 30: Media". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  18. ↑ Turner, Julia (November 9, 2015). "Meet Our New Dear Prudence Columnist". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  19. ↑ Smith, Ben (April 11, 2021). "Why We're Freaking Out About Substack". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  20. ↑ Sato, Mia (January 23, 2025). "Substack is spending $20 million to court TikTokers". The Verge. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
  21. ↑ Ulaby, Neda (November 10, 2014). "If Literature's Great Characters Could Text, They'd Charm Your Pantalets Off". NPR. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  22. ↑ Busis, Hillary (November 6, 2014). "Breaking Big: Mallory Ortberg, author of 'Texts from Jane Eyre'". EW.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Best Sellers, December 2014". New York Times. December 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  24. ↑ Cohen, Rebecca (November 8, 2014). "If Scarlett O'Hara could sext". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  25. ↑ Davison, Joshua (June 19, 2018). "Advance Review: Rick and Morty Presents #2 Krombopulos Michael – Far More Endearing than Expected". Inverse. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  26. ↑ "THE MERRY SPINSTER by Mallory Ortberg". Kirkus Reviews. November 28, 2017. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg. Holt, $17 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-250-11342-9". Publishers Weekly. November 20, 2017. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  28. ↑ "The Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2018". Publishers Weekly. January 23, 2018. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  29. ↑ Ragsdale, Melissa (December 29, 2017). "12 Books Every Harry Potter Fan NEEDS To Read In 2018". Bustle. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  30. ↑ PenzeyMoog, Caitlin; Adamczyk, Laura (January 4, 2018). "The 10 books we can't wait to read in 2018". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  31. ↑ Burke, Tina (March 2018). "8 Books You Absolutely Have To Read This Month". InStyle Australia. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  32. ↑ Canfield, David (July 2, 2019). "Exclusive preview: Daniel Mallory Ortberg returns with new memoir-in-essays". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  33. ↑ Grady, Constance (February 21, 2020). "No writer does 'weirdly specific yet relatable' better than Daniel Mallory Ortberg". Vox. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  34. ↑ "Women's Hotel". HarperCollins. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
  35. ↑ "CHRISTMAS AT THE WOMEN'S HOTEL". Kirkus Reviews.
  36. ↑ White, Adrian (February 28, 2018). "Mal Ortberg's Creepy New Book is Coming Out and Mal Is Too". Autostraddle. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  37. ↑ Havrilesky, Heather (March 13, 2018). "'Mallory Is Not Gone': Daniel Mallory Ortberg on Coming Out As Trans". The Cut. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  38. ↑ "UC Berkeley Department of English". english.berkeley.edu. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  39. ↑ Lavery, Grace [@graceelavery] (April 18, 2019). "this transsexual got tenure, baby!!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  40. ↑ Chandler, Mark (November 6, 2020). "Daunt wins four-way battle for Lavery memoir". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  41. ↑ Lavery, Daniel M. [@daniel_m_lavery] (November 29, 2018). "i'm terribly happy and my pants are muddy - the road to yosemite was flooded so i proposed by the side of the road. she's my best girl" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  42. ↑ Lavery, Daniel M. [@daniel_m_lavery]; (December 22, 2019). "married Grace so tired so good photo" – via Instagram.
  43. ↑ Tucker, Christina (January 16, 2020). "Grace Lavery and Daniel M. Lavery's Wedding Photos Are Pure Queer Joy". Autostraddle. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  44. ↑ Sicha, Choire (April 10, 2024). "Keeping Up With the Laverys". The Cut. Retrieved July 3, 2024.
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