Tajja Isen

Las Vegas

Author, SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS (2022) & TOUGH LOVE (2026) | Interim EIC @Orion_Magazine | Contributing writer @thewalrus | [email protected] | She/her

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Articles

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

Jan 10, 2025 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen

For one virtuous, ambitious month in 2016, I logged each book I read in a journal, handwrote a few hundred words of reflection (from one entry: “Felt a bit Canlitty, in that it set itself narrow parameters”), and assigned each book a rating out of ten, down to a single decimal point. At that point, I was in grad school. I began the journal after the semester ended in April, when I finally had time to read for pleasure again.
Don’t Google These Six Books Before You Read Them

Dec 11, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Tajja Isen

Each title richly rewards readers who come in with little prior knowledge. Books are, despite the common adage, often intended to be judged by their covers. Their jacket flaps include marketing copy designed to entice a browser to buy (and, ideally, read) them, teasing the details of their plot, their mood, or the flavor of their prose. But these polished descriptions, like many attempts to summarize compelling stories, rarely convey the excitement of reading a book that genuinely surprises you.
Memoirs Are Almost Impossible to Sell

Nov 26, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen

Earlier this year, the New York Times released their list of “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” The splashy interactive project was equal parts listicle and ballot, inviting readers to select the titles they’d read and generating an instantly viral personalized graphic that testified to their taste.
What’s the Point of Epigraphs Anyway?

Oct 9, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen

In mid-August, academic Leigh Claire La Berge posed a question on X about epigraphs: “do [they] ever work?” While she enjoys “finding them and dropping them in [her] prose,” the post continued, rarely does she like them as a reader. Epigraphs—the short quotes that preface a book or chapter and invoke its theme—attract a volume and intensity of discourse that belie the device’s small stature. Predictably, the responses to La Berge’s post were swift and impassioned.
Gatherings | Issue 30

Sep 7, 2024 | sendmylovetoanyone.substack.com | Manahil Bandukwala |Kathryn Mockler |Alexander Chee |Tajja Isen

I’m doing an upcoming post on newsletters for writers. Let me know if you have any questions about starting or running a newsletter. Send My Love to Anyone is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks to Hollay Ghadery for including Anecdotes in her 49th Shelf list of short story collections that “delight” and “unsettle”.
Self-Diagnosis Is Making Memoir Too Predictable

Sep 3, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen

Fifty pages into her debut memoir, Men Have Called Her Crazy, multidisciplinary artist Anna Marie Tendler describes a recurring dream. In a small, low-lit room that “resembles a detective’s office from a 1940s noir film,” Tendler and a faceless man argue over whether or not she’s crazy. They go back and forth—he says yes, she says no—before he laughs and vanishes. Then, the door disappears, leaving her trapped inside.
The Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design

Aug 14, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen

When Lisa began brainstorming concepts for the cover of her forthcoming non-fiction book, she wanted to give the creative team a lot of space. The thoughts she sent her editor were mostly open ended—social media handles of artists she loved, examples of books where she liked the aesthetic, notes on mood and palette. As a debut author, she didn’t want to overstep. But she also included a few more specific things: She wanted the art to be gender neutral—no pinks or purples.
Contributing Writers

Jul 9, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen |Arno Kopecky |Toula Drimonis |Rhiannon Russell

When you donate to The Walrus, you’re helping writers, editors, and artists produce stories like the ones you’ve just read. Every story is meticulously researched, written, and edited, before undergoing a rigorous fact-checking process. These stories take time, but they’re worth the effort, because you leave our site better informed about Canada and its people.
Alice Munro Was Bigger Than Canada

Jul 4, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Tajja Isen

In high school English class, I saw no connection between literature and nation. An author’s place of origin was a trifling bit of biography that rarely seemed relevant to their work: This is Will, he writes plays, his story’s set in Denmark, but he’s from England; this is Margaret, she writes about the horrors of the feminine experience, her novel’s set in dystopian New England, but she’s from Canada. Here’s another Will, who also hails from England.
Writer Tajja Isen on taking the time to find your rhythm

May 9, 2024 | thecreativeindependent.com | Tajja Isen

Writer Tajja Isen discusses making space for creative work, dealing with rejection, and being kind to the past versions of yourself. Writing, Editing, Process, Money, Multi-tasking, Time management, Mental health Highlights on You’ve been on both sides of the publishing world—as an editor, considering submissions, and as a writer who produces their own work.