If you would like to participate in this event, please register HERE.
To support the author and The Strand, please order a copy of Fairest; A Memoir, HERE.
Join author Meredith Talusan for a discussion of her debut memoir, Fairest. Meredith will be in-conversation with award winning writer Jenna Wortham. The event will take place on Zoom and be live streamed on The Strand's Facebook Page.
Fairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a "sun child" from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America. Coping with the strain of parental neglect and the elusive promise of U.S. citizenship, Talusan found childhood comfort from her devoted grandmother, a grounding force as she was treated by others with special preference or public curiosity. As an immigrant to the United States, Talusan came to be perceived as white. An academic scholarship to Harvard provided access to elite circles of privilege but required Talusan to navigate through the complex spheres of race, class, sexuality, and her place within the gay community. She emerged as an artist and an activist questioning the boundaries of gender. Talusan realized she did not want to be confined to a prescribed role as a man, and transitioned to become a woman, despite the risk of losing a man she deeply loved. Throughout her journey, Talusan shares poignant and powerful episodes of desirability and love that will remind readers of works such as Call Me By Your Name and Giovanni's Room. Her evocative reflections will shift our own perceptions of love, identity, gender, and the fairness of life.
Meredith Talusan is an award-winning author and journalist who is the founding executive editor of them, Condé Nast's LGBTQ+ digital platform, where she is now a contributing editor. She has contributed to other books, including the New York Times bestseller Not That Bad (edited by Roxane Gay), Nasty Women, and Burn It Down. She writes frequently for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, WIRED, Condé Nast Traveller, and many other publications. She lives in the Western Catskills with her spouse and rescue mutt.
Jenna Wortham is an award-winning staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. She is the co-host of the podcast "Still Processing" and co-editor of the forthcoming visual anthology Black Futures with Kimberly Drew, out in 2020 from One World.