Speakers

Grace Talusan
Author of The Body Papers
Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence, Brandeis University
Grace Talusan is the author of the memoir, The Body Papers, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, the winner in nonfiction for the Massachusetts Book Awards, and the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. The Boston Book Festival chose her short story, “The Book of Life and Death,” for the One City One Story program, translating it into several languages, including Tagalog. She has published in Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Boston Magazine, Boston Globe, The Rumpus, and the New York Times with recent essays in the anthologies, And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again: Writers from Around the World on the COVID-19 Pandemic edited by Ilan Stavans and Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19 edited by Jennifer Haupt. She has been awarded grants and fellowships including a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines, an Artist Fellowship Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and most recently, the Brother Thomas Fellowship Fund. She taught writing workshops at Tufts University and Grub Street, and is currently the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University.

Latoyia Edwards
Emmy Winning News Anchor, NBC10 and NECN
Edwards speaks to hundreds of thousands of people every morning from the Needham studios of NBC10 Boston and NECN. The Emmy Award-winning anchor also hosts “This is New England,” a Sunday morning community program on NBC10 Boston. A native of Dorchester, Edwards holds a degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College and is a former Miss Massachusetts. She began her career as a news writer for WBZ 1030-AM radio, before moving to broadcast television. She joined NBC10 Boston/NECN in 2005. A trusted voice and leader, Edwards has a gift for connecting with her audiences and the community by listening and speaking from her heart to bring into focus important issues and topics.