Our Staff

Carmine Starnino

Interim Editor-in-Chief

Carmine was one of the founding editors of Maisonneuve magazine and a senior editor at Reader’s Digest Canada. He has published eight books, including This Way Out (2009), which was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry, and two collections of literary essays. Leviathan (2016) is his most recent collection of poetry. He was a finalist for PWAC’s Editor of the Year in 2011.  
Follow @cstarnino on Twitter

Claire Cooper

Managing Editor

Claire has worked in print and digital publishing for twenty years. She got her start at Toronto Life and then spent many years in the custom content world, writing and editing for brands such as Sobeys, CAA, and CPA Canada.

Samia Madwar

Senior Editor

Samia Madwar is a senior editor at The Walrus. She was previously an editor at Up Here magazine, based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and has also worked as new media editor at Canadian Geographic. She has served as a judge for the National Magazine Awards, the Digital Publishing Awards, and the Online Journalism Awards, among others, and has mentored emerging journalists through the National Media Awards Foundation’s BIPOC Mentorship Program. She is currently on the board of directors at Magazines Canada.

Harley Rustad

Senior Editor

Harley is the author of Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas (2022) and Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees (2018). He has written for Outside, the Globe and Mail, and Geographical, among others. He is a faculty editor at the Banff Centre’s mountain and wilderness writing residency and the founder of the Port Renfrew Writers’ Retreat.

Carine Abouseif

Features Editor (On Leave)

Before joining The Walrus, Carine edited news and features for the Globe and Mail. Her writing on health care, mental health, and more has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Maisonneuve, Broadview, and beyond. She has also taught professional writing at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
Follow @carineabouseif on Twitter

Dafna Izenberg

Features Editor

Dafna has worked as an editor at Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Sportsnet, Today’s Parent and Healthy Debate. Her writing has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Hazlitt and The New Quarterly.

Monika Warzecha

Digital Editor

Before joining The Walrus, Monika Warzecha worked at Postmedia and MSN Canada. She has contributed to the Globe and Mail, TVO.org, Vice, and CBC Radio.
Follow @monikawarzecha on Twitter

KC Hoard

Associate Editor

KC previously worked at Maclean’s, and his work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Xtra Magazine, and Them. He was named Canada’s Biggest Carly Rae Jepsen Stan by the CBC in 2019 (and hasn’t shut up about it since).
Follow @kc_hoard on Twitter

Allison Baker

Head of Research

Allison Baker is a fact checker, copy editor, and producer based in Tkaronto. She is a recipient of the 2021 Michener–L. Richard O’Hagan Fellowship for Journalism Education. Since 2016, she has produced Mi’kmaq Matters, a podcast about the Mi’kmaw people, politics, land, and water of so-called Newfoundland.

Siddhesh Inamdar

Copy Editor

Siddhesh is a writer and editor. Before joining The Walrus, he worked at HarperCollins India, where he acquired and edited a number of bestselling, award-winning, and critically acclaimed nonfiction books. He has also been with some of India’s leading English newspapers, including Hindustan Times and The Hindu. He moved to Canada in the summer of 2022 and is based in London, Ontario.
Follow @inamdarsiddhesh on Twitter

Ariella Garmaise

Assistant Editor

Before joining The Walrus, Ariella worked at Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and as an editor at the McGill Tribune.
Follow @ariellagarmaise on Twitter

The Justice Fund Writer in Residence

Connor is an award-winning writer, editor, and twin based in Toronto. Before joining The Walrus as an editorial fellow in late 2020, he served as an associate editor on the Life and Perspectives desks at HuffPost Canada (RIP). His work has appeared variously in the Globe and Mail, The Face, Canadian Art (also RIP), and, among others, Vice, where he was an editorial intern in 2018. Additionally, Connor is a contributing editor at the UK-based Dazed magazine, where he writes long profiles of artists. You can find him haunting little coffee shops or at the library, the Paradise Theatre, or @nopecon on Twitter.

Mashal Butt

Power Corporation of Canada Senior Fellow

Mashal Butt is a fact checker and journalist. She has fact-checked and copy-edited for The Canadian Encyclopedia, Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Chatelaine, among other publications. Before joining The Walrus as an editorial fellow in 2021, she worked on investigations for the Investigative Journalism Bureau, the Global Reporting Centre, and did social justice reporting for The Tyee. She holds a masters in journalism from UBC’s School of Journalism, Writing and Media, and has an unhealthy obsession with her favourite soccer team.
Follow @mashalbuttt on Twitter

Colby Payne

Canadian Race Relations Fellow

Colby Payne is a journalist based in Vancouver, with prior experience in communications and education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and Russian from the University of British Columbia, where she was a senior staff writer for The Ubyssey.

Cannonbury Fellow

Emma Buchanan is a fact checker and journalist. She previously served as the 2021 J-Source/CWA Canada reporting fellow, and her work has appeared in publications like The Local and The Tyee. She holds a bachelor of journalism with a minor in politics from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Follow @emmabuchanan_ on Twitter

Tobin Ng

Chawkers Fellow

Tobin Ng is a fact checker and journalist based in Ottawa. They’ve fact-checked, written, and copy edited for Maclean’s, Xtra magazine, Broadview, and Maisonneuve, among other publications. In 2022, they won the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s inaugural bursary for graduating BIPOC journalism students.
Follow @tobinng on Twitter

Michelle Cyca

Contributing Writer

Michelle Cyca has written for Maclean’s, the Vancouver Sun, and Chatelaine.
Follow @michellecyca on Twitter

Tajja Isen

Contributing Writer

Tajja Isen is the author of Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service. She has edited for Catapult, The Walrus, and Electric Literature.
Follow @tajjaisen on Twitter