Tajja Isen
@tajjaisen.bsky.social
Author of SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS (2022) and TOUGH LOVE (March 2027) / tajjaisen.com
Pinned
COVER REVEAL for my new book, TOUGH LOVE. It's a memoir about my habit of falling into intense, complicated relationships with domineering mentors (maybe you can relate?). Now available for preorder!
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
Reposted by Tajja Isen
8 years of All You Can Ever Know 💙🌿 I treasure the conversations I’ve had (& still get to have) because of this book, and continue to be grateful to everyone who’s read it or shared it with others.
All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir
A NATIONAL BESTSELLERThis beloved memoir "is an extraordinary, honest, nuanced and compassionate look at adoption, race in America and families in general" (Jasmine Guillory, Code Switch, NPR)What doe...
bookshop.org
October 2, 2026 at 3:03 PM
8 years of All You Can Ever Know 💙🌿 I treasure the conversations I’ve had (& still get to have) because of this book, and continue to be grateful to everyone who’s read it or shared it with others.
Reposted by Tajja Isen
I am a cynical person but I am pretty earnest when it comes to literary prizes. Books need all the help they can get these days, and prizes are one way for unheralded books to get their due. lithub.com/in-defense-o...
In Defense of Literary Awards (and Longlists, and Shortlists)
It’s awards nominations announcement season, which means it’s also snarky opinions about awards nominations season. I love a hot take as much as anyone, but the truth is I have been and remain flag…
lithub.com
October 1, 2026 at 2:56 PM
I am a cynical person but I am pretty earnest when it comes to literary prizes. Books need all the help they can get these days, and prizes are one way for unheralded books to get their due. lithub.com/in-defense-o...
Reposted by Tajja Isen
TOUGH LOVE is the best thing @tajjaisen.bsky.social has written—which, if you know Tajja and her work, is really saying something! I can't wait to reread and discuss it with EVERYONE!!
COVER REVEAL for my new book, TOUGH LOVE. It's a memoir about my habit of falling into intense, complicated relationships with domineering mentors (maybe you can relate?). Now available for preorder!
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
September 28, 2026 at 6:25 PM
TOUGH LOVE is the best thing @tajjaisen.bsky.social has written—which, if you know Tajja and her work, is really saying something! I can't wait to reread and discuss it with EVERYONE!!
COVER REVEAL for my new book, TOUGH LOVE. It's a memoir about my habit of falling into intense, complicated relationships with domineering mentors (maybe you can relate?). Now available for preorder!
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
September 28, 2026 at 6:11 PM
COVER REVEAL for my new book, TOUGH LOVE. It's a memoir about my habit of falling into intense, complicated relationships with domineering mentors (maybe you can relate?). Now available for preorder!
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-...
Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573...
Reposted by Tajja Isen
I did more literary positivity for the new Book Gossip newsletter.
September 22, 2026 at 11:15 PM
I did more literary positivity for the new Book Gossip newsletter.
Reposted by Tajja Isen
my kid came home with her Scholastic catalogue last week with a hopeful checkmark next to a vending machine-shaped eraser set (??) anyway for @thewalrus.ca I wrote about why it's bad & weird that our public school libraries rely on a corporation that directly advertises to children in the classroom
Remember the Scholastic book fair? The Walrus contributing writer Michelle Cyca does too. But today’s catalogues feature less Animorphs and more Squishmallows, Lego, and Paw Patrol. What happened to the school book fair, and what is it actually selling? https://ow.ly/HpZW50ZPv8E
September 21, 2026 at 4:59 PM
my kid came home with her Scholastic catalogue last week with a hopeful checkmark next to a vending machine-shaped eraser set (??) anyway for @thewalrus.ca I wrote about why it's bad & weird that our public school libraries rely on a corporation that directly advertises to children in the classroom
Reposted by Tajja Isen
I will just add that when I wrote about being Annie Dillard's student, I tried to rescue her class from being lost, as it were. Such as I could. I've taught a lot of what she taught me over the years and most of it has held up.
I wrote about being Annie Dillard's student at Wesleyan in the spring of my last year in college for Elizabeth Benedict's Mentors and Monsters anthology, and The Morning News: themorningnews.org/annie-dillar...
Annie Dillard and the Writing Life - The Morning News
Writers aren’t born, they’re made—from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine. And sometimes tutelage.
themorningnews.org
September 16, 2026 at 2:45 PM
I will just add that when I wrote about being Annie Dillard's student, I tried to rescue her class from being lost, as it were. Such as I could. I've taught a lot of what she taught me over the years and most of it has held up.
Reposted by Tajja Isen
New one today for @defector.com: in the wake of the most recent declaration of reading's demise, I was curious what booksellers, almost always ignored by the post-literate prognosticators, made of such claims. Here's what they told me:
What Do Booksellers Make Of “The End Of Reading”? | Defector
If you haven’t yet encountered the cover story for the August issue of The Atlantic, I have some bad news to share: “The End of Reading Is Here.” It’s an intentionally provocative headline for a sligh...
defector.com
September 1, 2026 at 2:18 PM
New one today for @defector.com: in the wake of the most recent declaration of reading's demise, I was curious what booksellers, almost always ignored by the post-literate prognosticators, made of such claims. Here's what they told me:
I won't be paneling at AWP in 2027, but I will be there, with a very new book, and would love to join the lineup of any readings that folks are putting together!
August 18, 2026 at 3:54 PM
I won't be paneling at AWP in 2027, but I will be there, with a very new book, and would love to join the lineup of any readings that folks are putting together!
Reposted by Tajja Isen
I really wish I’d waited to publish this book until AFTER everyone got big into Greek myths but you can’t fault my trendspotting
Women and Other Monsters by Jess Zimmerman: 9780807055540 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A fresh cultural analysis of female monsters from Greek mythology, and an invitation for all women to reclaim these stories as inspiration for a more wild, more “monstrous” version of feminism...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
August 11, 2026 at 9:33 PM
I really wish I’d waited to publish this book until AFTER everyone got big into Greek myths but you can’t fault my trendspotting
Given all the piss and shit inside the Trojan Horse, it's weird they made it into a popcorn bucket
July 22, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Given all the piss and shit inside the Trojan Horse, it's weird they made it into a popcorn bucket
I'm planning a short class that I'm teaching at the Sewanee Writers' Conference this week, and it's reminding me how much I love to be in the classroom and wanna do it so much more than I get to!!!
July 21, 2026 at 7:58 PM
I'm planning a short class that I'm teaching at the Sewanee Writers' Conference this week, and it's reminding me how much I love to be in the classroom and wanna do it so much more than I get to!!!
Reposted by Tajja Isen
Being brave and reposting praise because I do need clients/a job 😅 (thank you Lindsay ilu)
July 18, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Being brave and reposting praise because I do need clients/a job 😅 (thank you Lindsay ilu)
Reposted by Tajja Isen
If I hear someone say “meeting in Bronx” I will kick them in nuts
July 15, 2026 at 5:13 PM
If I hear someone say “meeting in Bronx” I will kick them in nuts
Reposted by Tajja Isen
get your tickets!
🎟️ On sale now! Emily St. John Mandel @emilymandel.bsky.social, the bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility, returns with Exit Party. She speaks with award-winning journalist and literary critic @michellecyca.com on September 21.
writersfest.bc.ca/event/emily-...
writersfest.bc.ca/event/emily-...
Emily St. John Mandel in Conversation | Vancouver Writers Fest
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for supporting Emily St. John Mandel’s appearance in Vancouver. The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a…
writersfest.bc.ca
July 15, 2026 at 5:36 PM
get your tickets!
Reposted by Tajja Isen
I reviewed Julie Buntin's FAMOUS MEN for @defector.com—a delicious, thorny novel that read me right back. Many thanks to @brandyjensen.bsky.social for edits and for bringing more book reviews into the world! defector.com/famous-men-a...
‘Famous Men’ And Ambitious Women | Defector
Is there a story writers love to tell more than the one about how we became ourselves? Give me all of them: Your künstlerromans, your campus novels, your NYCs, your MFAs. I didn’t go to Iowa, but I’ve...
defector.com
July 14, 2026 at 4:17 PM
I reviewed Julie Buntin's FAMOUS MEN for @defector.com—a delicious, thorny novel that read me right back. Many thanks to @brandyjensen.bsky.social for edits and for bringing more book reviews into the world! defector.com/famous-men-a...
Reposted by Tajja Isen
god this is such good writing @tajjaisen.bsky.social
really great work here from @tajjaisen.bsky.social
‘Famous Men’ And Ambitious Women | Defector
Is there a story writers love to tell more than the one about how we became ourselves? Give me all of them: Your künstlerromans, your campus novels, your NYCs, your MFAs. I didn’t go to Iowa, but I’ve...
defector.com
July 14, 2026 at 2:24 PM
god this is such good writing @tajjaisen.bsky.social
Reposted by Tajja Isen
great review of a great book!
I reviewed Julie Buntin's FAMOUS MEN for @defector.com—a delicious, thorny novel that read me right back. Many thanks to @brandyjensen.bsky.social for edits and for bringing more book reviews into the world! defector.com/famous-men-a...
‘Famous Men’ And Ambitious Women | Defector
Is there a story writers love to tell more than the one about how we became ourselves? Give me all of them: Your künstlerromans, your campus novels, your NYCs, your MFAs. I didn’t go to Iowa, but I’ve...
defector.com
July 14, 2026 at 6:38 PM
great review of a great book!
July 14, 2026 at 5:22 PM
I reviewed Julie Buntin's FAMOUS MEN for @defector.com—a delicious, thorny novel that read me right back. Many thanks to @brandyjensen.bsky.social for edits and for bringing more book reviews into the world! defector.com/famous-men-a...
‘Famous Men’ And Ambitious Women | Defector
Is there a story writers love to tell more than the one about how we became ourselves? Give me all of them: Your künstlerromans, your campus novels, your NYCs, your MFAs. I didn’t go to Iowa, but I’ve...
defector.com
July 14, 2026 at 4:17 PM
I reviewed Julie Buntin's FAMOUS MEN for @defector.com—a delicious, thorny novel that read me right back. Many thanks to @brandyjensen.bsky.social for edits and for bringing more book reviews into the world! defector.com/famous-men-a...
Reposted by Tajja Isen
really great work here from @tajjaisen.bsky.social
‘Famous Men’ And Ambitious Women | Defector
Is there a story writers love to tell more than the one about how we became ourselves? Give me all of them: Your künstlerromans, your campus novels, your NYCs, your MFAs. I didn’t go to Iowa, but I’ve...
defector.com
July 14, 2026 at 2:06 PM
really great work here from @tajjaisen.bsky.social
Reposted by Tajja Isen
One of my favorite games while I waited for publication was imagining which celebrities should narrate which chapter/agent in my book. 🧵
Your posts making me so jealous as I wait for the audiobook version I might have to make time for PRINT.
July 13, 2026 at 9:59 PM
One of my favorite games while I waited for publication was imagining which celebrities should narrate which chapter/agent in my book. 🧵
got a new book review dropping next week
July 10, 2026 at 7:23 PM
got a new book review dropping next week
Reposted by Tajja Isen
seven years ago catapult published my essay Love Peace and Taco Grease and changed my life ✨
magazine.catapult.co/people/stori...
magazine.catapult.co/people/stori...
July 10, 2026 at 5:32 PM
seven years ago catapult published my essay Love Peace and Taco Grease and changed my life ✨
magazine.catapult.co/people/stori...
magazine.catapult.co/people/stori...
Reposted by Tajja Isen
if readers take the time to email me at @thenarwhal.ca, I take the time to reply 💕
June 11, 2026 at 8:10 PM
if readers take the time to email me at @thenarwhal.ca, I take the time to reply 💕