Carine Abouseif

On the left: an illustration of a person curled up between two rows of teeth. On the right: text that reads “Is everyone else grinding their teeth too? I thought stress was behind my tense jaw. Turns out it’s only part of the answer.”

After her jaw seized up, The Walrus senior editor @carineabouseif.bsky.social received a swift diagnosis of temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Digging deeper into the condition revealed a larger story about stress, chronic pain, and access to intentional care: thewalrus.ca/is-everyone-else...

To write about sales track is, essentially, to write about everything—career longevity, creative pressure, labor issues, capital, and what winds up on readers' bookshelves:

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

How to Make a Living as a Writer | The Walrus Horse stories in the morning, erotica in the afternoon

"I woke up at 6 a.m. and did Horse News; I hammered out whatever freelance writing assignment I was working on; I wrote erotica; I ended my workday around 5 p.m., tired and achy." —‪@gabrielledrolet.bsky.social‬ for @thewalrus.ca‬

thewalrus.ca/how-to-make-...

I wrote about how I secretly love my long commute. (Don't tell the back-to-office CEOs.)

Welcome to University. Good Luck Finding a Place to Live | The Walrus Students are being forced to choose between brutal commutes and luxury condos they can’t afford

For @thewalrus.ca, Katrya Bolger wrote about the lack of student housing at Canadian universities: "The campus, once seen as a place to comfortably linger after class and where students could form lasting bonds, is becoming more of a transient and impersonal space"
thewalrus.ca/welcome-to-u...

I List Therefore I Am: Letting Go of Reading Goal Anxiety | The Walrus What if tallying up books at the end of the year was less about numbers?

Wrote about why you should track your reading (sorry and happy new year) thewalrus.ca/reading-goals/

Diets high in processed foods and red meat. Overuse of antibiotics. Sedentary lifestyles. Sanam Islam asks: Could today’s habits explain the spike in early-onset cancer?

Here’s what we know from the experts:

thewalrus.ca/why-are-more-you...

“Graduate, work for one year, then get your permanent residency.”

This was the path international student Alyanna Denise Chua thought she would follow. But for her and many others, that dream is slipping away with Canada’s broken immigration policies:

thewalrus.ca/permanent-reside...

Memoirs Are Almost Impossible to Sell | The Walrus Publishers are turning away from personal stories. Have readers stopped caring about each other’s lives?

Where are all the memoirs?

The @nytimes.com “100 Best Books of the 21st Century” list earlier this year featured just a handful of memoirs. Are readers bored of personal stories—or are publishers too cautious to bet on them? @tajjaisen.bsky.social dives in: thewalrus.ca/memoirs-are-...

Want to Raise a Kid in Canada? That’ll Be $293,000 | The Walrus . . . and climbing

"Millennials aren’t stalling or forgoing parenthood entirely due to the cost of strollers, or because they can’t afford a second car. They’re thinking about affordable housing, reliable child care, and sometimes the cost of IVF," writes @chantalbraganza.bsky.social
thewalrus.ca/want-to-rais...

In Defence of Garlic in a Jar: How Food Snobs Almost Ruined My Love of Cooking | The Walrus Celebrity chefs, food writers, and home cooks have sneered at pre-cut produce. They’re dismissing those of us with disabilities

In honour of soup season, I’m resharing this (award-winning!) essay I wrote a few years ago that remains one of my favourites.

I wrote about the casual ableism in cooking culture, and the one ingredient that sparks it most: garlic

thewalrus.ca/garlic-in-a-...

In response to my @thewalrus.ca article, several law school professors have started a petition demanding the school address the issues of systemic discrimination and to stand in solidarity with those who shared their stories docs.google.com/file/d/1LxMH...

go.bsky.app/AVAMxgu

This starter pack of editors at Canadian publications is woefully incomplete. Please help me find the many people I've missed! This could be useful for freelancers, other editors, comms people, and more — if we can find the rest of us. go.bsky.app/SJgutHX

An Elite Law School Promised Reforms, Then Made Inclusion Impossible | The Walrus Racialized professors say they were underpaid, bullied, and ignored at UBC

Thank you to the brave people who spoke to me about the dysfunction at UBC Allard Law. Institutions can’t take credit for DEI work while excluding racialized people #lawsky #lawschool

thewalrus.ca/an-elite-law...

Hello 👋, I edit for thewalrus.ca. Sometimes, I write about health and medicine: carineabouseif.com/writing