“In U Up? reporter Hanna Kozlowska brings this evolution to life through the insightful, occasionally heartbreaking, often funny voices of dozens of regular daters from all walks of life, while also investigating the social, economic, and political forces at play. From punch-card matchmaking on room-sized computers in the 1960s, to the online chatroom romance and OkCupid, to the development of ever more specific services like Shaadi.com, Farmers’ Only or Feeld, to the new frontiers of VR dates and AI companions, Kozlowska weaves a lively, razor-sharp history of searching for love and connection.
Rigorously reported and rivetingly told, U Up? will be a balm to countless online daters, providing context for their struggles, commiserating laughs at the striking similarities between 19th-century matrimonial ads and Tinder bios , and perhaps even a bit of hope in the shared humanity of those behind the screen. An essential read for anyone who’s ever received a “u up?” text and wondered how matchmaking got to this point and where it could be going next.”
U Up? An Intimate History of Online Dating will be published with One Signal/Simon & Schuster on January 26, 2027. You can pre-order it wherever books are sold!
Freelance writer and reporter. Formerly at Quartz, The New York Times, and Foreign Policy magazine. My work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The New Republic, The Guardian, Vox, NBC News, Elle, Politico Europe, Outside, Vogue Poland, and more. A 2023 investigation for The Washington Post I co-authored received an honorable mention from the SABEW Best of Business Awards. My book, U Up? An Intimate History of Online Dating will be published with One Signal/Simon & Schuster on January 26, 2027. Work on the book has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
See my journalism portfolio here. These days, I write mostly about about tech, gender issues, and Eastern Europe.
If you or your company want to work with me on a writing project, reach out at hanna@hannakozlowska.com. I offer ghostwriting, research, fact-checking, as well as developmental, line, and copy editing. I work on books, newsletters, annual reports, brand policies, and website content.
Photo: Saskia Kahn