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Tajja Isen

Tajja Isen is a contributing writer for The Walrus.
Books

Are Women Allowed to Be Happy in Their Marriages?

June 12, 2025June 12, 2025 - by Tajja Isen

Literature often describes matrimony as banal or repressive. That’s a shame

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In a photo illustration, a woman tries to hold up an enormous tower of books looming and leaning over her
Books

I List Therefore I Am: Letting Go of Reading Goal Anxiety

January 10, 2025January 10, 2025 - by Tajja Isen

What if tallying up books at the end of the year was less about numbers?

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A vintage photo of a woman clocking in at work, filing away her punch card while smiling at the camera. A blue filter overlays the image, except for the large butterfly logo of Bluesky
Media

Bluesky Promised Writers Freedom. Now It’s Feeling a Lot Like Work

December 19, 2024December 19, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

With every new platform comes the expectation to punch in as a professional, curated version of ourselves

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In a photo illustration, four stacks of books are partially coloured in dark pink, making them look like bar charts of diminishing heights
Books

Memoirs Are Almost Impossible to Sell

November 26, 2024November 26, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

Publishers are turning away from personal stories. Have readers stopped caring about each other’s lives?

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A book lies open to the opening epigraph. A finger with dark red nail polish, points to the quote, the hand resting on the book
Books

What’s the Point of Epigraphs Anyway?

October 9, 2024October 9, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

Writers and readers alike love to argue about the quotations in the opening pages of their favourite books

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In a photo illustration, a bunch of different therapist couches are falling out the pages of an open blue book
Books

Self-Diagnosis Is Making Memoir Too Predictable

September 3, 2024September 3, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

The joy of reading memoir is to watch another mind puzzle through its inner mechanics. If the outcome is already decided, why bother?

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A photo illustration of a black-and-white book shop window. Half of the books feature covers with purple, abstract blobs
Books / November 2024

The Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design

August 14, 2024August 19, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

The publishing industry’s troubling reliance on visual stereotypes

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A photo of Alice Munro against a full red backdrop
Books

Alice Munro Was Bigger than Canada

July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

Here artists are celebrated by virtue of their nationality. Munro showed me I could escape those tropes

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A photo illustration of an infographic where the bar graph is made up of book spines.
Books

How Do You Even Sell a Book Anymore?

December 18, 2023January 8, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

As sales slump, the labour of trying to bottle hype is largely left to writers

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A photo illustration of a yellow book emerging out of a grey dust jacket.
Books

The Case for Never Reading the Book Jacket

November 28, 2023January 8, 2024 - by Tajja Isen

I don’t want to be told what’s going to happen and I definitely don’t want to be told what the book is “about”

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The July/August 2025 cover of The Walrus magazine featuring an image of a woman reading a book while listening to music. She is sitting in a room filled with plants that also has a window through which a city skyline can be seen. July/August 2025

Explore how tariffs are testing ties between Northern neighbours, the death of the middle class musician, Afghanistan’s lost generation, and more.
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The Walrus is located within the bounds of Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit. This land is also the traditional territory of the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

© 2025 The Walrus. All Rights Reserved.
Charitable Registration Number: No. 861851624-RR0001

© 2025 The Walrus. All Rights Reserved. Charitable Registration Number: No. 861851624-RR0001
Accessibility Help Privacy Policy Cookie Policy
© 2023 The Walrus. All Rights Reserved.
Charitable Registration Number: No. 861851624-RR0001

​​The Walrus is located within the bounds of Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit. This land is also the traditional territory of the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

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How’s The Walrus?

As the executive director, I am frequently asked this question. These days, I reply: “The Walrus was made for this moment.” From on-again, off-again trade news and negotiations to a new prime minister, we are committed to Canada’s conversations. We launched six regional bureaus earlier this year to ensure comprehensive coverage across this great country of ours. But we can’t do this alone. As a non-profit newsroom, this work isn’t possible without our readers’ support. If you believe in Canada’s stories, support our paywall-free journalism with a donation today.

Our team is small, but our commitment is big; just like our country. Every story we publish is the result of writers, artists, and editors going the extra mile (well, kilometres) to bring Canada closer together through compelling, fact-checked, and regionally grounded reporting.

Thank you for your support.

Jennifer Hollett
Executive Director, The Walrus


How’s The Walrus?

As the executive director, I am frequently asked this question. These days, I reply: “The Walrus was made for this moment.” From on-again, off-again trade news and negotiations to a new prime minister, we are committed to Canada’s conversations. We launched six regional bureaus earlier this year to ensure comprehensive coverage across this great country of ours. But we can’t do this alone. As a non-profit newsroom, this work isn’t possible without our readers’ support. If you believe in Canada’s stories, support our paywall-free journalism with a donation today.

Our team is small, but our commitment is big; just like our country. Every story we publish is the result of writers, artists, and editors going the extra mile (well, kilometres) to bring Canada closer together through compelling, fact-checked, and regionally grounded reporting.

Thank you for your support.

Jennifer Hollett
Executive Director, The Walrus

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