During her visit, organized by Miami University’s Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Writing, Talusan will read from her debut memoir, “The Body Papers,” which explores her life as a Filipino immigrant, a cancer previvor and a survivor of childhood abuse.
“I will be reading from my memoir, but I’ll also be talking about the writing process, and about my life as an immigrant, and as someone who was told not to tell stories, but eventually did. So, I’ll be talking, showing some pictures, and reading as well,” said Grace Talusan, award-winning author.
In the book, Talusan uses documents, such as immigration papers, cancer test results and legal certificates to map out her story.
“I grew up in a pretty homogeneous town, where we were really different and foreign, and I paid attention. I noticed a lot of things that were going on around me, but I had no place to talk about it, including in my own home,” Talusan said.
Her parents were working hard to start their own business, she said, and everyone in the family was working to acculturate or assimilate into American culture.
“I always loved to write, and like everything that I couldn’t talk about, basically, ended up in this book. I wasn’t thinking of writing a memoir, I was actually writing fiction and working on a novel when I went to grad school, but I just kept writing these true stories and essays all along the way, and eventually, I had enough of these built up that I had written and also published, and a friend of mine said ‘why don’t you put it together into a book?” Talusan said.
Through a series of essays, Talusan was drawn to write about her lived experiences with identity, intergenerational trauma, abuse, immigration and hereditary cancer. The book is also about faith, friendship and the transformative power of love.
Talusan came to the U.S. with her parents at 2-years-old. Born in the Philippines and raised in New England, she currently lives outside of Boston. She is a graduate of Tufts University and the MFA Program in Writing at UC Irvine.
“I’ve always dreamed of publishing a book, and at various times I tried to publish, but I also never saw myself represented in literature. It’s very rare. I read so much that I made it all the way through the most of high school until I read an author that was Asian American. So, I didn’t even imagine someone like me, a Filipino immigrant, could write and publish a book,” Talusan said.
She said, “At this point, having my published book out, and meeting a lot of readers including people like me all over the country, it gave me an awareness and appreciation to how important it is to have representation in books and literature for all kinds of people including young people because if they don’t, then their dreams and imagination can be limited in terms of what is possible.”
“The Body Papers” was named as a “New York Times” Editors’ Choice selection.
The book won the Restless Books prize for New Immigrant Writing and the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction. She has also shared more of her story at events such as the Miami Book Fair.
In 2022, Talusan was awarded fellowships from United States Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Brother Thomas Fund. She teaches in the Nonfiction Writing program at Brown University.
How to go
What: “A Reading by Grace Talusan”
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Johnston Hall 142, Miami University Middletown, 4200 N. University Blvd.
Cost: Free and open to the public. No RSVP required.
More info: MiamiOH.edu/Regionals/LLW
About the Author