Karen Stollznow (born 12 August 1976) is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n-American author,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, public speaker, and podcaster. Her books include ''Bitch: The Journey of a Word'', ''Missed Conceptions: How We Make Sense of Infertility'', ''On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present'', ''The Language of Discrimination'', ''God Bless America: Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States'', ''Haunting America'', ''Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic'', ''Hits and Mrs'', and ''Would You Believe It?: Mysterious Tales From People You'd Least Expect''. Stollznow also writes short fiction, including the title ''Fisher's Ghost and Other Stories'', and she is a host on the podcast Monster Talk with Blake Smith. She has written for many popular publications, including ''The Conversation'' and ''Psychology Today''. Stollznow has also appeared as an expert on many TV shows, including the History Channel's History's Greatest Mysteries and Netflix's Files of the Unexplained.

Career

A student of linguistics and history at the University of New England in Armidale,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, she received First Class Honors in

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, and went on to a PhD in the area of Lexical Semantics. She graduated with her doctorate in 2007. In 2004, she relocated to California to become a Visiting Student Researcher with the Department of Linguistics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. In 2005, she became a Researcher for the Script Encoding Initiative, a joint project between the UC Berkeley Department of Linguistics, and the

Unicode Consortium The Unicode Consortium (legally Unicode, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated and based in Mountain View, California, U.S. Its primary purpose is to maintain and publish the Unicode Standard which was developed with the in ...

. She is currently a researcher in the Department of Linguistics at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

and also affiliated with the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research. From 1997 to 2009, Stollznow was a prominent investigator and writer for the

Australian Skeptics Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using science, scientific methodologies. This page covers all A ...

and served as Editor of their magazine ''The Skeptic'' for which she also wrote many articles. She has also written for publications such as '' Australasian Science'', '' Neucleus'', '' Skeptical Inquirer'', and others. Karen Stollznow Presents at TAM 2012

Between 2009 and 2011 she wrote the Naked Skeptic column for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry ( CSI), now rebranded as The Good Word for ''Skeptical Inquirer''. In 2010 she began as the Bad Language columnist for Skeptic. She has been a host of the Skeptics Society's '' MonsterTalk'' podcast since its beginning in 2009 and in 2010 she became a host of the Center for Inquiry's ''

Point of Inquiry A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

'' podcast as well. In 2011 she presented a talk at the Colorado Springs SkeptiCamp on Making (Up) History, and at the Denver/Boulder SkeptiCamp on Braco the Gazer. In 2012 she was a speaker at The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, giving a talk titled "Prediction and Language", and in 2013 giving a talk titled "What an Excellent Day for an Exorcism". Stollznow was also a Research Fellow for the

James Randi Educational Foundation The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dange ...

. She is a Contributing Editor for '' Skeptical Inquirer'' magazine, a Fellow of the

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to " ...

Selected publications

* Stollznow, Karen (2017). ''The Language of Discrimination''. Lincom GmbH. * Stollznow, Karen (2017). ''Would You Believe It?: Mysterious Tales From People You'd Least Expect''. Amazon Digital Services. * Stollznow, Karen (2016). ''Hits and Mrs''. Amazon Digital Services. * Stollznow, Karen (2014). ''Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic''. * Stollznow, Karen (2013). ''God Bless America: Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States''. * Stollznow, Karen (2013). ''Haunting America''. James Randi Educational Foundation. . * Stollznow, Karen (2010). Skepticism and the Paranormal: A Rose By Any Other Name. In Bonett, W. (Ed.) The Australian Book of Atheism. Scribe Publications * * * * * * * * *

Personal life

Stollznow is an

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

Australian and formerly lived in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, California. Born in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Manly, she grew up in Collaroy, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Stollznow lives with her husband Matthew Baxter and their son in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

References

External links

*
MonsterTALK
– cryptozoology podcast she co-hosts
The Good Word
– past ''Skeptical Inquirer'' column {{DEFAULTSORT:Stollznow, Karen 1976 births Living people Linguists from Australia Women linguists Australian science writers Australian sceptics Australian women bloggers Australian women podcasters People from New South Wales University of New England (Australia) alumni Australian expatriates in the United States Australian podcasters