Charis welcomes author Meredith Talusan and her editor, Elda Rotor, who is Vice President and Publisher for Penguin Classics, to discuss Talusan's long-anticipated memoir, Fairest. 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.

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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.

Elda Rotor is Vice President and Publisher for Penguin Classics. She oversees the U.S. editorial program including the works of John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller, Shirley Jackson, William Golding, Amy Tan, Alice Walker, and the Pelican Shakespeare series. She has created and edited several series including the new Penguin Vitae hardcover series featuring the work of Audre Lorde and others, and the forthcoming Penguin Liberty series about constitutional rights. She is the editor for Fairest by Meredith Talusan published by Viking and Legendary Children by Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez published by Penguin Books. Elda is a board member for the Academy of American Poets and Kundiman, a national organization dedicated to Asian American creative writing.

FAIREST--EXPLODING TRANS AND IMMIGRANT MEMOIR CONVENTIONS--A CONVERSATION WITH MEREDITH TALUSAN AND ELDA ROTOR