BIO

Born and raised in Hollywood, and the Jewish American granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Solvej Schou is a Pasadena, California based writer and musician with more than 20 years of professional writing experience.

Schou works full-time as ArtCenter College of Design’s staff senior writer in Marketing and Communications, writing stories about alumni, students, faculty and staff for ArtCenter's online and print magazine, and creating other online and print copy.

Schou has won four CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) awards for her ArtCenter stories: an international 2020-2021 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards gold award in feature writing for her feature story “Raising Consciousness: Diversity in Graphic Design,” two 2021-2022 CASE District VII awards in writing for her stories “Product Design alumnus and Professor Roosevelt Brown empowers students to succeed” and “Creative Resilience: Alumni showcasing vulnerability and strength during the pandemic,” and a 2022-2023 CASE District VII award in writing for her story “Speak Up: Alum Jonathan Chang’s work honors victims of anti-Asian hate and amplifies Asian pride.”

Her writing experience includes former staff and senior staff writer-reporter positions at The Associated Press and Entertainment Weekly to freelance articles for AP, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and other outlets. She has also contributed poetry and personal essays to publications including Angels Flight • literary west.

Schou has interviewed legends including Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Chrissie Hynde, Brian Wilson, Patti Smith, Bong Joon-ho, Francis Ford Coppola, Ringo Starr and Barbara Kruger, and has contributed to multiple books, including essays on Patti Smith, Sharon Jones and PJ Harvey for the 2018 anthology Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyoncé. Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl (Black Dog & Leventhal).

As an indie rock musician, Schou is a fierce singer, songwriter and guitarist. Her loud and passionate 2019 album Quiet For Too Long, her second solo album and first full-band solo album, is available through Bandcamp, and on limited edition red vinyl.

“If your nerves aren't charged and tingling by the end, your emotions at tipping point, you aren't paying attention,” LA Weekly wrote about the record as its album of the week. The album’s “distillation of frustration, sadness and occasional joy, alongside real world issues, into sheer poetry is a real gift, and a much needed one right now." Her self-titled debut solo album was released in late 2014, followed by the single “Friendship” in 2015.

Schou has a bachelor’s degree in from Barnard College, Columbia University and a master’s degree in journalism from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.