Manila Love Letters: Fil-Am Talusan sisters talk about writing, migration and home

Sisters Mary and Grace Talusan, born in the Philippines, and Liza, born in the United States, grew up in America and seldom returned “home,” a word their migrant parents used interchangeably to mean Manila, where their clans lived. Despite the physical and temporal distances from their extended families and their ancestral lands, the Talusan sisters became scholars, professors and authors whose work engages with the histories, cultures and lived experiences of the Filipino diaspora.

During increasingly peripatetic times that often engender mobile, sometimes fraught, identities, their singular stories provide fresh perspectives on what it means to be a global Filipina. This event marks the first time all three sisters are in Manila together for a collective conversation and to share their diverse observations as continuous balikbayans. The sisters will discuss their research and books — love letters to the home they moved from, but never truly left.

In partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library, the book and facilitated discussion will be held at Ayala Museum (Function Room I, Ground Floor) on 6 July, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. A ticketed event, all proceeds support the educational programs of Filipinas Heritage Library. Ticket prices are P300 (regular), P240 (discounted), P150 (student) and P210 (Senior/PWD). Purchase at bit.ly/fhl-lovelettershome.

Grace and Mary both see their Fulbright experiences, facilitated by the Philippine American Educational Foundation (PAEF), as instrumental for their writing and in building a bond with the Philippines, and Liza has extended a prolonged intentional exchange by bringing her cultural heritage into her business acumen and advising in the US. This July, Grace leads the inaugural Brown Global Summer Programs’ “Traces of Empire: Writing Filipino and American Experiences through Creative Nonfiction,” a learning exchange between Brown University (US) and Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines) students, coordinated with her Ateneo faculty colleagues, Dr. Vincenz Serrano, Dr. Oscar Campomanes and Dr. Charlie Veric.

“We are proud to have this opportunity to introduce the Talusan sisters’ work to a Philippine audience,” states Cecil Ayson of Filipinas Heritage Library. “Life writing is an emergent genre in global Asian and Asian American studies. Also, Mary’s Philippine music history scholarship aligns with FHL collections and current projects. In addition, Liza’s pedagogy interests are relevant to both the library’s engagements with teachers and Ayala Foundation’s work in community development and education.”

Filipinas Heritage Library is managed by Ayala Foundation under its Arts and Culture Division. The library stokes interest in all things Filipino, gathered up in print, audio and visual materials. Along with its core collection on World War II, it gives visitors physical access to books on migration and the Filipino diaspora, and recordings of Philippine music.