#85 - Shaking up Complacent White Media with Scaachi Koul

Episode 85 of the KWL Podcast contains an interview with Scacchi Koul conducted by Johanna Schneller about Scacchi’s new book One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter.

Please note that this interview contains adult language which might not be appropriate for all listening audiences.

In the interview, Johanna and Scaachi talk about:

• The story behind Scacchi’s Twitter profile picture
• How Scacchi inherited her sense of humor from her father and the role humor has played in her life
• How men always get to be “complicated” while women are “difficult”
• The sixth grade writing assignment that might have been the spark to Scacchi’s writing career
• How “sitting in a room pouring out bitterness” might be the only possible job she could have based on her skill set
• How most of the content of the book is taboo to her family
• The topic of “shaking up complacent white media” and a discussion about the fiery debate in the Canadian literary community over race, representation and free speech after a short column titled “Winning the Appropriation Prize” was published in early May
• The right amount of time required before writing something; the concept of comedy being just tragedy after time.
• Scacchi’s concern over having just the right balance of humor for this book and the interesting back and forths between writer and editor
• The use of “being arranged” as a verb when referring to arranged marriages
• How The Walrus was a magazine that changed Scaachi’s life and made her want to be a writer, and how, with recent events, all that has changed in a significant way
• The writers who mattered to Scaachi
• How Scaachi went into writing because she thought it might help other people feel less lonely

 

Scaachi Koul's Website: scaachi.com/odwabdanotwm

Scaachi Koul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Scaachi

Scaachi Koul at BuzzFeed - scaachi.koul@buzzfeed.com

 

Other Links of Interest:  The Appropriation Prize Controversy