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Kashana

@kashana.blacksky.app
120K followers 484 following 972 posts

TV writer. Author of the novels THE PAYBACK and THE SURVIVALISTS. Deadly with a butter knife. Order THE PAYBACK here 👉🏾 kashanacauley.com

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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 16/09/2026
Angry that this one had to end, sort of amazed that it felt like an alternate history of NYC as a whole and Harlem in particular as told through crime, sold me on its view of crime as a meaningful act though which people grow. Also the prose just feels really cool.
Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead + my fav book light
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 16/08/2026
Two buttons meme where the two buttons are “being reasonable people” and “spouting some nonsense about the blacks”
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 06/08/2026
Always pack heat!
A folding chair necklace
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 05/08/2026
Amused that they let me vote on that list of the best thrillers, as a person who always thinks I have unusual taste (don’t we all) but four of these made it on the list.
The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century, Kashana Cauley’s ballot

A Burnjng, Megha Majumdar
American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
Never Saw Me Coming, Vera Kurian
Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A Separation, Katie Kitamura
Blacktop Wasteland, SA Cosby
In The Woods, Tana French
Razorblade Tears, SA Cosby
Velvet Was The Night, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 22/07/2026
More novels should be narrated by gossipy dead people. But also I laughed, I cried, I briefly pondered camping out right outside all the awards committees while waving it in my hand. Best book I’ve read this year, hands down.
The novel The Great Wherever, by Shannon Sanders
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 21/07/2026
More dead narrators should be relentless gossips
The novel The Great Wherever, by Shannon Sanders
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 19/07/2026
Nelson Mandela
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 17/07/2026
One more prop for this Sunday’s (7/19) live performance of The Survivalists pilot at Dynasty Typewriter (and livestream!) the optimized soy protein bars that reduce your risk of death.
An optimized soy protein bar called a life preserverThe back of the optimized soy protein bar, which says “optimized soy protein to reduce your risk of death”
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 16/07/2026
“Right in front of my boiled lettuce?”
The right in front of my salad girl about to enjoy a delicious dish of boiled lettuce
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 15/07/2026
I totally recommend getting a bunch of people to perform the pilot you wrote based on your novel and then getting a hat custom made based on one of the jokes in that novel. This Sunday 7/19! Live in LA and also via live streaming! Tix: calendar.dynastytypewriter.com/shows/no-not...
Me, wearing an extremely stylish custom Tactical Coffee hat
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 10/07/2026
I probably need a support group for people who’ve just given up and drink everything out of their Black Santa mug every day.
My Black Santa mug which is used 24/7/365
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 31/05/2026
Here’s the cover art. Marvin Gaye is an upset Greek statue of divorce!
The cover art for the Marvin Gaye Album Here, My Dear, where Marvin Gaye is an upset Greek statue of divorce
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 25/05/2026
I felt emotional after finishing this one, and at lots of points along the way. Great year to read extremely well-done fictionalized versions of successful slave revolts.
Burn Down Master’s House, a novel by Clay Cane
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 25/05/2026
Like most nose jobs, this beer is only ok.
Nose job IPA, from Boomtown Brewery, which is located in Cleveland, just kidding, Los Angeles
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 24/05/2026
This novel is sort of a murder mystery and definitely a character study of a pack of South Asian auntie types in Jersey who like each other but also don’t in a hilarious, bitchy way. Best chapter titles of the year so far, a very well done 15 yr old girl, great prose too, as a prose snob.
Men like ours, a novel by Bindu Bansinath
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 18/05/2026
There are now signed copies of the paperback at Skylight Books! www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781668...
Signed copy of the novel The Payback by Kashana CauleySigned copy of the novel The Payback by Kashana Cauley
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 12/05/2026
The Payback is out in paperback today, it’s the same great student loan industry heist novel in a smaller size and lower price. www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Pa...
"Wickedly fun."
-DANZY SENNA,
author of Colored Television
The Payback
A NOVEL
Kashana CauleyA NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
AN NPR AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

FEATURED IN Los Angeles Times * The Boston Globe * Vanity Fair *
Chicago Tribune * Mother Jones * Bustle * Electric Literature *
The Washington Post * The Maris Review * Literary Hub
"A terrifically fun book that made me laugh out loud at least once every chapter." —LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Riotous-and righteous." -VANITY FAIR
"High jinks with a healthy dose of social commentary."
-THE WASHINGTON POST

Jada Williams is good at judging people by their looks. From across the mall, she can tell not only someone's inseam and pants size but exactly what style they need to transform their life. Too bad she's no longer using this superpower as a wardrobe designer to Hollywood stars but for minimum wage plus commission at the Glendale mall.

When Jada is fired yet again, she is forced to outrun the newly instated Debt Police, who are out for blood. But Jada, like any great antihero, is not going to wait for the cops to come kick her around. With the help of two other debt-burdened mall coworkers, she hatches a plan for revenge. Together, the three women plan a heist to erase their student loans forever and get back at the system that promised them everything and then tried to take it back.

Kashana Cauley is the author of The Payback and The Survivalists, which was named a best book of 2023 by the BBC, Today, Vogue, and more. Cauley is also a television writer, having worked on The Great North, Pod Save America on HBO, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Her writing has
also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker, among other publications. Find out more at KashanaCauley.com.
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ISBN 978-1-6680-7554-8 $18.00 ULS./$25.00 Can.
ATRIA
SimonandSchuster.com
@AtriaBooks
COVER PHOTOGRAPHS BY ACCEE STOCK AND SHUTTERSTUCK
9 781668075548
INTED IN THE USA
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 07/05/2026
It’s been too long since I read a book with a good twist. Seven writers join up on a secret mission to finish a dead writer’s unfinished book, the writers are gossipy and catty and bitchy, weird shit goes down, 10/10 would watch these people snipe at each other again.
The Ending Writes Itself, by Evelyn Clarke
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 23/04/2026
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 09/04/2026
Wishing you and yours a very merry Confederate Surrender Day.
The white flag, aka the official flag of the Confederacy
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 08/04/2026
Hey Darth! The Payback paperback is out 5/12, and can be preordered now. www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Pa...
"Wickedly fun."
-DANZY SENNA,
author of Colored Television
The
Payback
A NOVEL
Kashana Cauley
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 06/04/2026
If you can’t make it, The Payback paperback is out on Tuesday, May 12th. Same great student loan industry heist novel, new smaller package perfect for slapping your enemies in the face. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
"Wickedly fun."
-DANZY SENNA,
author of Colored Television
The
Payback
A NOVEL
Kashana CauleyA NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
AN NPR AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
FEATURED IN Los Angeles Times * The Boston Globe * Vanity Fair * Chicago Tribune * Mother Jones * Bustle * Electric Literature *
The Washington Post * The Maris Review * Literary Hub
"A terrifically fun book that made me laugh out loud at least once every chapter." —LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Riotous-and righteous." — VANITY FAIR
"High jinks with a healthy dose of social commentary."
-THE WASHINGTON POST
ada Williams is good at judging people by their looks. From across the mall, she can tell not only someone's inseam and pants size but exactly what style they need to transform their life. Too bad she's no longer using this superpower as a wardrobe designer to Hollywood stars but for minimum wage plus commission at the Glendale mall.
When Jada is fired yet again, she is forced to outrun the newly instated Debt Police, who are out for blood. But Jada, like any great antihero, is not going to wait for the cops to come kick her around. With the help of two other debt-burdened mall coworkers, she hatches a plan for revenge. Together, the three women plan a heist to erase their student loans forever and get back at the system that promised them everything and then tried to take it back.
Kashana Cauley is the author of The Payback and The Survivalists, which was named a best book of 2023 by the BBC, Today, Vogue, and more. Cauley is also a television writer, having worked on The Great North, Pod Save America on HBO, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Her writing has
also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker, among other publications. Find out more at KashanaCauley.com.
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 06/04/2026
I’m thrilled that the Kirkwood Public Library (just outside St Louis) picked me as this year’s One Author, One Kirkwood selection. I’m doing a free event there one month from today, Wednesday 5/6 that’s also The Payback’s paperback release party (it’s out on 5/12!) kplmo.org/oneauthor/
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KIRKWOOD
PUBLIC LIBRARY
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One Author, One Kirkwood
One Author, One Kirkwood is a yearly community read for the people throughout our St. Louis community. All events are free and open to the public.
Limited quantities of Kashana Cauley's latest book,
"The Payback," will be available free to attendees on a first come, first serve basis.
Get Free Tickets
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 08/02/2026
If you’re into books written by people instead of assembled by AI slop, I just finished this one, which is about a Black guy who quits the CIA to train Black freedom fighters in Chicago, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
The Spook Who Sat By The Door, a novel by Sam Greenlee
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 07/12/2025
I love that feeling when you’re vibing with a funny, emotional short story and then the writer throws out a quote you want to stick on your fridge forever. harpers.org/archive/2025...
I got the feeling that my roommate had never talked to a black person before, and admittedly I’m kind of a lot of black person for anyone’s first time
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 15/07/2025
The Payback is out today, and you can buy it wherever books are sold. It comes highly recommended by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, The Boston Globe, Vanity Fair, the LA Times, the NYT, and dozens of people who hang out on this very website.
The Payback, a novel, by Kashana Cauley
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 11/12/2023
The right is already aiming for mass unemployment as a deflationary measure through the 2025 project. prospect.org/politics/202...
Project 2025 further calls on Congress to repeal the Federal Reserve’s mandate to promote full employment. Inflation reduction, now matter how many Americans it throws out of work, is what matters.
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