diff --git a/letter_template/text.tex b/letter_template/text.tex
index 40b341b..abb1b5f 100644
--- a/letter_template/text.tex
+++ b/letter_template/text.tex
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 \documentclass[12pt]{letter}
 
 \usepackage{fontspec}
+% fontspec disables the classic TeX input ligatures by default
+% (-- => en-dash, --- => em-dash, `` and '' => curly quotes), so
+% re-enable them globally for every font loaded below.
+\defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX}
 \setmainfont{EB Garamond}
 \setsansfont{TeX Gyre Heros}
 
diff --git a/memo_template/text.tex b/memo_template/text.tex
index f5e5f96..6ab2f72 100644
--- a/memo_template/text.tex
+++ b/memo_template/text.tex
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 \tagpdfsetup{activate-all}
 
 \usepackage{fontspec}
+% fontspec disables the classic TeX input ligatures by default
+% (-- => en-dash, --- => em-dash, `` and '' => curly quotes), so
+% re-enable them globally for every font loaded below.
+\defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX}
 \setmainfont{EB Garamond}
 \setsansfont{TeX Gyre Heros}
 
diff --git a/paper_template/text.tex b/paper_template/text.tex
index af41c0d..26571b0 100644
--- a/paper_template/text.tex
+++ b/paper_template/text.tex
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 \tagpdfsetup{activate-all}
 
 \usepackage{fontspec}
+% fontspec disables the classic TeX input ligatures by default
+% (-- => en-dash, --- => em-dash, `` and '' => curly quotes), so
+% re-enable them globally for every font loaded below.
+\defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX}
 \setmainfont{EB Garamond}
 \setsansfont{TeX Gyre Heros}
 \usepackage{wrapfig}