2 and 2

When the earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, a large number of writers and artists working in varied mediums—some Haitian, some not—were convened in Port-au-Prince for a literary and film festival. For the cause of Haitian literature, there was, outside of the earthquake and catastrophe it unleashed, a great deal to celebrate. Indeed, Haitian authors living in Haiti and abroad won several prestigious French literary awards in 2009: The Prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste went to Lyonel Trouillot for his novel Yanvalou pour Charlie; the Prix Richelieu went to Yanick Lahens for her novel La Couleur de l’aube; and the Prix Mèdicis was awarded to Dany Laferrière for his most recent novel L’Enigme du retour. Laferrière, who left Haiti in 1976 and now divides his time between Montreal and Miami, also won two important Canadian prizes: the Grand Prix littéraire international Métropolis bleu (2010) in honor of his overall career, and the Grand Prix du livre (2009) for L’Enigme. (For those interested, Laferrière was in a suburb of Port-au-Prince on January 12 and returned home to Montreal a few days later to discuss what he experienced in Haiti after the earthquake. An English translation of the interview is available at the Huffington Post.)

In the United States, too, 2009 was a luminous year for Haitian literature. Here, the Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat won a MacArthur “genius” grant for “enriching our understanding of the Haitian immigrant experience” through her “insightful depictions of Haiti’s complex history” in books such as her family memoir, Brother, I’m Dying (2007). And 2009 at last saw Marie Chauvet’s Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Trilogy published in English for the first time (in a Modern Library Edition). Chauvet, who died in New York in 1973, is one of Haiti’s most esteemed post-occupation writers, and Love, Anger, Madness is considered her seminal work. Originally published in Paris in 1968, the book was critical of the oppressiveness of the Duvalier regime and created such a furor when it appeared that Chauvet was exiled to New York. Out of fear for her family’s safety in Haiti, she also ended up buying and destroying most of the copies of her book. The literary importance of Love, Anger, Madness is such that its translation into English was supported by a Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

In a Wall Street Journal article published a few days after the earthquake, Danticat recommended a list of books and music that people freshly interested in Haiti might consider looking into. In addition to her list, I would say, read Danticat, read Chauvet, read Trouillot, Lahens, and Laferrière. While the most recent novels by the latter three authors have not yet been translated into English, other works by them are available in translation: Trouillot’s Street of Lost Footsteps, Lahens’ Aunt Résia and the Spirits and Other Stories, Laferrière’s Heading South.

Reading these writers will give you a sense of the complexity, depth, and lyrical beauty of some recent Haitian writing. They might also lead you to begin exploring some of the many other great works of Haitian literature, so be prepared for immersion.

—A’Dora Phillips