A Tufts lecturer has been named a finalist in an essay contest about the consequences of medical errors.
But Grace Talusan (LA '94) doesn't teach public health and has never led a class at a medical school. Instead, she is an English lecturer who has learned about the field of medicine through the experiences of her young niece.
Her essay, entitled "Foreign Bodies," is a memoir of her then two-year-old niece's experience in the hospital after being diagnosed with eye cancer.
She said that it is not uncommon for her to focus on personal anecdotes such as this in her writing.
"I take things from life and make them mine," she said.
The contest is sponsored by the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, and in a press release announcing the results, foundation members focused on Talusan's examination of a belief doctors often hold that they are immune from medical problems.
She talks about how her father, an ophthalmologist, missed all the signs of the eye cancer: "That night after hearing about Joli's diagnosis, my father studied hundreds of photos of her. 'I didn't see it,' my father said. 'How could I not see it?'" she wrote.
Talusan is one of three finalists in the competition and will receive a $500 prize.
Her work will be published in "Silence Kills: Speaking Out and Saving Lives," which will be published by Southern Methodist University Press this month. The contest's winner is Merilee Karr, a writer and physician who will receive $1,000.
This recent recognition marks the latest in a series of literary successes for Talusan. In 2002, the Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded her a grant and last year she won the Ivy Terasaka Short Story Competition with her piece "Japanese Times."
Talusan teaches English and creative writing classes at Tufts and also leads a writing class for students of all ages at Grub Street, Inc., an independent center located in Boston.
Sondra Levenson, a student at Grub Street, said that Talusan is a captivating teacher.
"She sucked me in emotionally right away, because [her writing] comes so much from her heart," Levenson said.
Talusan said that the goal of her creative writing classes is to get students to "write something that comes to life."
In her own case, she finds that her greatest source of inspiration is people she loves and of whom she is curious about.
"A story just pops in my head," she said. "I hear a line in my head followed by other lines, and then it forms a paragraph."
Most of her stories focus on Asian families. Talusan grew up reading stories about white protagonists, but her Filipino heritage led her to make this conscious shift.
"I don't know what happened," she said. "I just realized I can write about characters that are like me and that was exciting."
When Talusan was a student at Tufts, she studied under English Lecturer Jonathan Strong, who is currently her colleague.
As a writer, he feels that her greatest strength comes from her great understanding of people.
"It takes dedication, involvement and talent to be a writer, which she keeps proving [that she possesses]," Strong said.
