Finding Home at the Boston Immigrant Writer’s Salon

By Jessica A. Kent
Feb. 27, 2019

Frankie Concepcion is passionate about building community in the city of Boston.

She’s the writer behind the Boston Immigrant Writer’s Salon, which first appeared on social media at the beginning of January, and which will hold its first event on March 5. The Salon, whose goal is to “create a community which empowers and inspires immigrant voices,” is a passion project of Concepcion’s, herself originally from the Philippines, as a way to unite, care for, and encourage the immigrant writers of Boston. 

“The history of how the Boston Immigrant Writer’s Salon got started is very closely tied to my personal history,” Concepcion tells me during our recent chat at a bustling Tatte Bakery in Harvard Square. A writer from a young age, Concepcion moved to Boston from the Philippines in 2010 for undergrad, then stayed for grad school and remained on a one year work visa. After getting married, she applied for her green card, and found herself in a season with time to spare, as she was unable to be employed. She volunteered for a local organization working with immigrant students, but realized that if she wasn’t going to be able to get paid, “I might as well focus on a passion project, something that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do if I was worried about a full-time job.” So the Boston Immigrant Writer’s Salon was born during this period of anticipation. 

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