In 1961, she became a journalist in Kuwait. In 1964, she was a founding member of the Kuwaiti Literary League. She published five non-fiction books while working as a journalist. Two of the books were "The Arabs" (1965) and "Women in Koran". In 1970, al-Salem bought the weekly magazine "al-Majalis" and became its publisher and editor-in-chief. She was also the owner of "Arab Sport". In 1972, she became part of a second wave of Kuwaiti women writers when she published a short story "Kharif bila matar" (Translated: "An Autumn Without Rain"). In addition, she published an underground newsletter "Children And Women of Kuwait" during the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990-1991.