Christine Grimaldi (she/her) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonfiction writer, abortion journalist, and podcast host.
Christine is currently seeking literary representation for two nonfiction books. First up is “The Shadow and The Ghost,” based on Christine’s Atavist Magazine true crime-meets-family secret narrative of the same name. "The Shadow and the Ghost” was a notable selection in The Best American Essays 2023. Then there is the "memoir-plus" Vendetta: A Memoir in Grudges, based on Christine’s popular online essays that turn the second-wave feminist slogan “the personal is political” into present-day intersectional feminist prose. Click on their navigation tabs for more information about each work-in-progress.
What distinguishes Christine is her writer’s voice, which a favorite professor once called “a refreshing mix of tough talking moll and vulnerable little doe.” Christine’s work is literary and accessible.
In 2024, Christine and nine other smart, seasoned writers, editors, and artists co-founded The Flytrap Media. The Flytrap is a worker-owned, independent, intersectional feminist publication and newsletter that endeavors to "unfuck your algorithm” with feminist thought and cultural criticism otherwise largely erased from the Internet.
Christine, a white woman with brown hair, poses in a powder blue linen suit and a Palmetto State Abortion Fund shirt with the campaign slogan for “Mifepristone & Misoprostol ‘24”—the safe, effective two-medication regimen for a self-managed abortion—on a rooftop above the White House. She smirks, wearing large glasses, red lipstick, and subdued gold jewelry, resting her elbow against the rooftop's railing.
Christine then joined her longtime friend Katelyn Burns as co-host of the hit Cancel Me, Daddy podcast, a Flytrap Media production. Together, Christine and Katelyn provide biweekly media and politics commentary grounded in their Washington reporting experiences. It was on the pod where Christine first adopted the persona of "Your Ombudsmom,” a play on the all-but-extinct internal “ombudsman” or public editor role to hold newsrooms accountable to their readers. As Your Ombudsmom, Christine puts the “me” in “media accountability.”
Christine brings more than 15 years of experience covering national politics to her growing body of literary and narrative nonfiction. Since 2016, Christine has covered abortion policies and politics that have real-life stakes for the real-life people she always centers in her work. People > politics.
Christine earned a B.A. in Journalism from The George Washington University, though she credits her early internships and mentors for making her a journalist. Christine holds an M.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins University, which she attended while working full time as a congressional reporter. Christine lives in the District of Columbia, on the ancestral land of the Piscataway and Anacostan (Nacotchtank) peoples, with her spouse, toddler, and pet rabbit.
Christine poses in a Palmetto State Abortion Fund shirt with the campaign slogan for “Mifepristone & Misoprostol ‘24”—the safe, effective two-medication regimen for a self-managed abortion—on a rooftop above the White House. Photo credit: Magdalena. Makeup: Yasmin Ndip Beauty. Hair: Natalia L.