{{Short description|American writer}} '''Grace Talusan''' is a Filipino American writer. Her 2019 memoir, ''The Body Papers'', won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the Massachusetts Book Award in nonfiction<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.recorder.com/Valley-writers-snap-up-several-Massachusetts-Books-Awards-36390753 |title= Valley writers win honors in this year’s Massachusetts Book Award competition |first= Steve |last= Pfarrer |work= The Recorder |date= September 29, 2020 |access-date= December 22, 2023 |archive-date= December 22, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231222144235/https://www.recorder.com/Valley-writers-snap-up-several-Massachusetts-Books-Awards-36390753 |url-status=live}}</ref> and was a ''New York Times'' Editors' Choice selection.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Meet Grace Talusan, Winner of the 2017 Prize for New Immigrant Writing|url=https://restlessbooks.org/blog/2017/8/1/meet-grace-talusan-winner-of-the-2017-prize-for-new-immigrant-writing|access-date=2021-05-25|website=Restless Books|date=August 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525203503/https://restlessbooks.org/blog/2017/8/1/meet-grace-talusan-winner-of-the-2017-prize-for-new-immigrant-writing|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-04-26|title=11 New Books We Recommend This Week|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/books/review/11-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html|access-date=2021-05-25|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Her short story, "The Book of Life and Death," was the Boston Book Festival's One City One Story selection in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |date=2020 |title=One City One Story: The Book of Life and Death by Grace Talusan |url=https://www.bostonbookfest.org/one-city-one-story/ |access-date=November 9, 2025 |website=Boston Book Festival}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=October 13, 2020 |title=Grace Talusan Reads ‘The Book of Life and Death’ at the Boston Book Festival |url=https://www.boston.com/culture/books/2020/10/13/grace-talusan-boston-book-festival-essential-worker-short-story/ |access-date=November 9, 2025 |work=Boston.com}}</ref>
Talusan was born in the Philippines, and during the 1970s, her parents came to Chicago from Manila, as her father, Totoy, finished his medical studies on a student visa, and then they settled in Boston, Massachusetts, when she was 2.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Wilson |date=2019-04-08 |title=Grace Talusan on Her Memoir, The Body Papers – Tufts Observer |url=https://tuftsobserver.org/grace-talusan-on-her-memoir-the-body-papers/ |access-date=2023-11-06 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Szalai|first=Jennifer|date=2019-04-17|title=Documenting Undocumented Lives in 'The Body Papers'|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/books/review-body-papers-memoir-grace-talusan.html|access-date=2021-05-25|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Upon expiration of her father's student visa, the family, including Grace and her two brothers, all U.S.-born, were undocumented.<ref name=":1" /> She graduated from Tufts University and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Irvine.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-08-03|title=Grace Talusan|url=https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/people/faculty/grace-talusan|access-date=2021-05-25|website=Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life|language=en}}</ref> Her work often explores immigration, trauma, memory, and belonging.<ref>{{cite web |date=February 27, 2020 |title=Writing Parts Into a Whole: An Interview with Grace Talusan |url=https://www.literaryboston.com/articles/writing-parts-into-a-whole-an-interview-with-grace-talusan |access-date=November 9, 2025 |website=Literary Boston}}</ref>She was the Fannie Hurst Writer in Residence at Brandeis University<ref>{{Cite web|title=Grace Talusan|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/english/faculty/talusan.html|access-date=2021-05-25|website=www.brandeis.edu|language=en}}</ref> and is currently a lecturer in the Nonfiction Writing Program at Brown University.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grace Talusan |url=https://english.brown.edu/people/grace-talusan |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=English {{!}} Brown University |language=en}}</ref>
== Reception == In a ''New York Times'' review, Jennifer Szalai wrote that ''The Body Papers'' "doesn’t track a one-way march to triumph from adversity; Talusan’s essays loop in on themselves, as she retrieves old memories and finds unexpected points of connection."<ref name=":0" />
''Kirkus Reviews'' said of ''The Body Papers'', "Moving and eloquent, Talusan’s book is a testament not only to one woman’s fierce will to live, but also to the healing power of speaking the unspeakable. A candidly courageous memoir."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/grace-talusan/the-body-papers/|title=THE BODY PAPERS {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}}</ref>
In a review in ''NYLON'', Ilana Masad calls the memoir "stunning" and writes, "Grace Talusan is honest and elegant about some of life's most difficult moments."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-04-30 |title='The Body Papers' Is A Stunning Memoir About Immigration, Family, And Trauma |url=https://www.nylon.com/body-papers-grace-talusan-review |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=Nylon |language=en}}</ref>
Profiles in Carve Magazine and Literary Boston highlight Talusan’s impact as a Filipino American voice in contemporary literature.<ref>{{cite web |last=Klein |first=Lisa |date=November 10, 2020 |title=One to Watch: Grace Talusan |url=https://www.carvezine.com/from-the-editor/one-to-watch-grace-talusan |access-date=November 9, 2025 |website=Carve Magazine}}</ref>
== Works ==
=== Books === * ''The Body Papers'' (Restless Books, 2019)<ref>{{cite web |date=August 2017 |title=Meet Grace Talusan, Winner of the 2017 Prize for New Immigrant Writing |url=https://restlessbooks.org/blog/2019/10/4/afterword-grace-talusan-body-papers-g6gfn |access-date=November 9, 2025 |website=Restless Books}}</ref>
=== Anthologies === * ''Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19'' (2020) * ''And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again'' (2020)
=== Short stories === “The Book of Life and Death” (2020) - selected for the Boston Book Festival’s One City One Story program. Archived 2021-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.<ref>{{cite web |date=2020 |title=One City One Story: The Book of Life and Death by Grace Talusan |url=https://www.bostonbookfest.org/one-city-one-story/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526000000/https://www.bostonbookfest.org/one-city-one-story/ |archive-date=May 26, 2021 |access-date=November 9, 2025 |website=Boston Book Festival}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=October 13, 2020 |title=Grace Talusan Reads ‘The Book of Life and Death’ at the Boston Book Festival |url=https://www.boston.com/culture/books/2020/10/13/grace-talusan-boston-book-festival-essential-worker-short-story/ |access-date=November 9, 2025 |work=Boston.com}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Talusan, Grace}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American people of Filipino descent Category:American women writers Category:21st-century American writers Category:Tufts University alumni Category:University of California, Irvine alumni Category:21st-century American women
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