Scaachi Koul

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Scaachi Koul
Scaachi Koul at In Conversation at Indigo Chapters - 2017 - IMG 2959.jpg
Koul at a book reading in Toronto in 2017
Born (1991-02-07) February 7, 1991 (age 30)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materRyerson University
OccupationWriter
Websitehttp://scaachi.com/

Scaachi Koul (born February 7, 1991)[1][2][3] is a Canadian culture writer at BuzzFeed Canada.[4] She is the author of the book of essays and was one of the reporters in BuzzFeed's Netflix documentary series Follow This. Before BuzzFeed, Koul worked at Penguin Random House Canada, the acquiring publisher of her book,[5] and was an intern at Maclean's magazine.[3] Her journalism has appeared in Flare,[6] HuffPost Canada, The Thought Catalog, The Guardian, The New Yorker,[7] The New York Times,[8] The Globe and Mail,[9] and other publications.

Career[]

Koul was freelancing while still at the Ryerson School of Journalism.[10] She wrote for Maclean's from 2009 to November 2012,[11] introducing herself in a post by saying, "I am proving to be one of the finest writers of my generation. This fact should not be questioned."[10] She graduated from Ryerson in 2012.[12] From April to November 2014 Koul wrote the "Unf*ck Yourself" column for Hazlitt.[13] In 2015 her column was rebranded "Scaach-22" with the new tagline "managing your own privilege without being a dick".[14]

In March 2015, while Koul was still employed by Penguin Random House Canada, they announced publication of a collection of her essays.[5] Originally the collection was titled The Pursuit of Misery [15] then it was changed to .[16] The book covers subjects including family, race, feminism, body image, and rape culture from her perspective as an Indian-Canadian woman growing up in the suburbs of Calgary.[17] She also discusses her writing career and social media, including temporarily deactivating her Twitter account as a result of invective and threats following a request for long-form submissions from people who were not white men.[18] Koul was praised for her wit and humour[19], ability to mix sarcasm and sentimentality,[20] and for her effective use of confessional writing as a complement to analytical rigour.[21] She received a shortlisted nomination for the 2018 Stephen Leacock Award for the best book of humour written in English by a Canadian writer.[22]

Personal life[]

Koul was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta.[1] She was a member of the Girl Guides of Canada and participated in their youth programs.[23] She is married and built her career in Toronto.[24][25][26] She currently lives in New York[27] with her husband, Bloomberg reporter Scott Deveau, and cat, Sylvia Plath.[28]

Koul is Indo-Canadian, and her writing on race and shadism draws from her own life.[9][29] She has stated that though she is a brown person, her fair skin has allowed her access to a kind of white privilege, and when she goes to India she is "basically acting as a white person."[30][31]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Scaachi Koul Biography". penguinrandomhouse.ca. Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  2. ^ Koul, Scaachi. "It is my birthday". Twitter. Retrieved February 7, 2017.[non-primary source needed]
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Scaachi, Koul. "Success at 22 is depressing for one twentysomething". Maclean's. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  4. ^ "Scaachi Koul". Buzzfeed.com. BuzzFeed Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Robertson, Becky. "Doubleday Canada acquires essay collection by Scaachi Koul". quillandquire.com/. St. Joseph Media. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  6. ^ Koul, Koul. "Scaachi Koul on the Reality of Dating a Much Older Guy". flare.com. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  7. ^ "Contributors: Scaachi Koul". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  8. ^ Koul, Scaachi. "Meanwhile in Canada … Things Are Just as Bad". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Koul, Scaachi. "Review: Kamal Al-Solaylee's Brown is essential reading for understanding the non-white world". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Koul, Scaachi. "To begin: Join me in my self-indulgence". Maclean's. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  11. ^ "Contributors: Scaachi Koul". Maclean's. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  12. ^ "Scaachi Koul". Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  13. ^ Koul, Scaachi. "Unf*ck Yourself". Hazlitt. Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  14. ^ Koul, Scaachi. "Scaach-22". Hazlitt. Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  15. ^ "Author Scaachi Koul". Hazlitt Magazine. Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  16. ^ "Scaachi Koul | Authors | Macmillan". US Macmillan. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  17. ^ Donahue, Anne. "12 Days of Feminists: Anne T. Donahue on Fierce Truth-Teller Scaachi Koul". Flare. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  18. ^ Ansari, Sadiya (March 9, 2017). "Scaachi Koul on Race, Anxiety and Her Brand-New Book". Flare. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  19. ^ Volmers, Eric (March 18, 2017). "Calgary's Scaachi Koul tackles Twitter trolls, Indian weddings and body hair in new collection of essays". Calgary Herald. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  20. ^ Arnone, Ted (March 13, 2017). "Jagged utter pill: Scaachi Koul turns social media rage and mockery into an enthralling essay collection". The National Post. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  21. ^ Rosenberg, Alyssa (May 2, 2017). "In Scaachi Koul's debut essay collection, life is ridiculous–and deadly serious". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  22. ^ "Scaachi Koul, Laurie Gelman and Jennifer Craig shortlisted for 2018 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour". CBC Books, May 2, 2018.
  23. ^ "Diamond Isinger on Instagram: "Created my own Girl Guide role-model edition of "Guess Who?" for @girlguidesofcanada girls to play, featuring lots of accomplished