Carlyn Zwarenstein is a Toronto writer whose writing has been has been described variously as compelling, sensuous, measured, rage-inducing, radical, and gorgeous. Her second book. On Opium: Pain, Pleasure, and Other Matters of Substance (Goose Lane Editions), was published in September 2021 after appearing on CBC Books and others' most-anticipated fall books lists (audiobook, ECW Press 2022). Carlyn's first book, Opium Eater: The New Confessions, was published in 2016 by Nonvella, a small B.C. press (and appears in an updated version as the first part of On Opium). It was chosen as a Globe & Mail best book of 2016.
Carlyn's work has been taught on graduate and undergraduate English literature courses alongside writers like Oscar Wilde, Thomas De Quincey and Charles Baudelaire, and on postsecondary social work and addiction studies courses, among others. Instructors who wish to teach On Opium can purchase section and chapter excerpts here.
Carlyn is also a science and politics journalist and has contributed essays, features, op-eds and news stories for over two decades to publications such as the Washington Post, the Walrus, Canadian Geographic, the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, Filter Magazine, NOW weekly, the Guardian, Our Times, High Times, Spacing, and many others. Most recently she was a staff science writer at Salon.
She is represented by Marilyn Biderman at The Transatlantic Agency.
Carlyn Zwarenstein
BIO
Biography
ADDRESS
City: Toronto,
Province/Territory: Ontario
EMAIL
c/o TWUC
LANGUAGES
English
PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Title
On Opium: Pain, Pleasure, and Other Matters of Substance
Publisher
Goose Lane Editions
Year
2021
Title
Opium Eater: The New Confessions
Publisher
Nonvella
Year
2016
Title
"The Opposite of Violence" (chapter 4 of the anthology) Madness, Violence, and Power: A Critical Collection (ed. Andrea Daley, Lucy Costa and Peter Beresford)
Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Year
2019
LINKS
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
EQUITY INITIATIVE
As part of the Union’s Equity Implementation Plan, we are committed to increasing awareness of authors who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQI2S, or living with a disability. This author identifies as:
Members who identify as:
Living with a disability
Programs & Interests
Interested in participating Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program:
All members are eligible for the Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program. Are you interested in participating in this pro
Yes
Interested in participating in the Northern Ontario WITS program:
The Union’s Northern Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program funds in-person visits to northern Ontario schools when possible. Ar
No
