Two former voices from The Walrus—Tajja Isen, the former digital editor, now editor-in-chief at Catapult magazine, and digital director Angela Misri, who by the time this episode is available will have moved on to Toronto Metropolitan University as its newest assistant professor.

Misri talked to Isen about her new book, Some of my Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service. It’s an essay collection about race, justice, and the limits of good intentions.

Tajja Isen is also the co-editor of the essay anthology The World As We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate. Some of My Best Friends is her debut essay collection. Angela Misri is a novelist and digital journalist based in Toronto.

Isen describes why she wrote this book and the journey she marked through writing it.

Then Isen talks about the baggage people bring to the books they read and how she approached writing the nine essays in the collection.

Isen then describes the toughest and easiest chapters to write and why absolution is a theme that shows up throughout.

Isen also talks about the publishing industry and fighting the impulse to pigeonhole a book on a shelf or genre that is more than one thing.

Finally, Isen gives some advice for new writers.

• Why Success in Canada Means Moving to America

This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh, Yasmin Duale, and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much toTajja Isen for joining us this week.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Ethereal Relaxation” by Kevin MacLeod.

Ethereal Relaxation by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/8719-ethereal-relaxation

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license