By Maddie Dulle —<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grace Talusan, an award-winning author and lecturer at Brown University, paid a visit to
Miami\u2019s Middletown campus on Wednesday, April 13, to read an excerpt from and discuss her
critically acclaimed memoir. The book, entitled The body papers, takes a look at the author\u2019s life
as a Filipino immigrant and survivor of cancer and childhood abuse. It is a New York Times
Editor\u2019s Choice selection and has won multiple awards including the Restless Books Prize for
New Immigrant Writing and the Massachusetts Book Award in nonfiction. Recently, it has been
the March Community Reads selection for the MidPointe Library System with discussions in
three different locations, the April selection for the Diversity Book Discussions at Miami
Regionals, and has also been read and discussed in two Miami classes.
The evening started with a beautiful cultural dance organized by the Filipino Association of
Southwest Ohio, who also provided a display that guests were able to admire, before Talusan
dove into her first reading: an excerpt from a piece called \u201cThe River of Grief\u201d that appeared in
an anthology she wrote during the pandemic.
In this writing she discussed how she believes that family members who have passed come back
to give comfort, appearing as different things. She described specific loved ones whom she
hadn\u2019t had a chance to grieve yet, due to her feeling guilty about taking the necessary time off to
do so, and how they were coming back in that moment because there was finally the time thanks
to the lockdown.
The next piece she shared with the audience also focused on family. This excerpt came from a
new novel she is writing that is based on when families would gather together and host a party
for everyone on the street. She explained that it takes place during a single day and contains parts
of real stories and individuals, such as when her father was tasked with watching her nephew, but
they only serve as an outline, while the rest of the story is filled in with fiction.
Lastly, she moved into a reading from her memoir, The body papers. In addition to sharing a
portion of it, she also went into detail about her history and the challenges she faced while
writing the book, due to many of the events in the book being family secrets. During this time,
she explained what publishing this memoir meant to her as she never imagined herself writing
when she was growing up. Her hope going into it was that readers would be able to feel what her
experience as an immigrant was like.
Towards the end of the reading, she turned to the audience for any questions or comments they
may have. Before doing so, she encouraged those who often find themselves quiet and unable to
speak up in front of a crowd to use this portion of the night as practice by asking her anything
that came to mind. Those who did opened the floor for another wonderful discussion where<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talusan shared even more about her experience as a Filipino writer and how describing her life
in her writing has affected her.
Finally, Grace Talusan took the time to meet with those in attendance, holding meaningful
conversations with each that visited her. She also was more than happy to sign a copy of The
body papers. For those who didn\u2019t already own one, the book was available for purchase through
the University Bookstore at the back of the room through the entirety of the event.
Anyone who was unable to attend the event, but still wanted to learn more about the book, was
given a chance to do so as Grace Talusan came back to campus on Thursday. This drop-in
session was dedicated to more informal discussions and all were encouraged to stop by.
Wednesday\u2019s free event was part of the Passport for Programming, which hosts various events
on campus throughout the semester, and Grace Talusan\u2019s visit is thanks to the generous support
of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the CLAAS Dean’s Office, the departments of English
and LLW, the Burkhardt fund, the CLAAS DEI committee, and the Office of Institutional
Diversity and Inclusion as part of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month. To
learn about other events, visit Miami\u2019s event calendar page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"