Writer

Here is a picture of Dr. Rony Gilot who became Secretaire Adjoint of the national palace.

Dr. Rony Gilot, a veteran politician and author, has been chosen as the Secretaire Adjoint of the National Palace. Dr. Gilot was once the Information Minister of Baby Doc Duvalier and used to maintain regular communication with Baby Doc when the junior Duvalier was in exile in Paris. He has written a biography of the Papa Doc Duvalier titled "The Misunderstood". Gilot is sympathetic and partially supports the autocratic rules of the Duvalier era, because he believes that it was in some ways, were similar to the postwar German and Italian rules, necessary to make a nation disciplined. His latest book released in 2012 was titled as "In Grateful Memory of Jean-Claude Duvalier or Luck Overused". He has also written a book on the former Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille titled as "At the Option of the Memory ̶ Garry Conille or the Passage of a Meteor."

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Here is a picture of Haitian writer Kettly Mars.

Kettly Mars (born September 3, 1958) is a Haitian novelist, poet, and essayist. She is one of the most successful Haitian writers of today. For the past twenty years, she has portrayed the sincere and insightful aspects of her country's common peoples' joys and suffering, their emotions, and desires in a precise language which is not only breathtaking but heartbreaking as well. Although her novels and their themes are based on Haiti, they have universal approach with diversified social classes, genders, human race, spirituality, power and violence. She studied classical language and spent first twenty-five years of her career in office administrative jobs. She had love for poem since her young age, but her creative impulses made her to write first poetry when she was thirty-five, perhaps with some reluctance, because they were very much different from her later matured works. Her first poetries were erotically charged with the importance of love, nature, human body and sexuality in everyday life. She proceeded to write with a new style since 1996 and received her first prize in the Jacques-Stephen Alexis contest which further encouraged her to write poems, short stories and novels with inspiring love, the beauty of nature and everyday objects. Kelly started writing about realistic and vivid paintings of societies which are tormented by deep economic and political antagonisms.

Kettly writes in French and her books have been translated in English, Dutch, Italian, Danish and Japanese. Her first major collection of short stories and poetry, "Un parfum d'encens", was published in 1999. Her first novel "Kasale" came out in 2003. "Kasale" has deep root in Haitian culture and the voodoo spirituality. It tells the story the of common villagers' struggle for existence against unknown super powers. The first novel was followed by L'heure hybride (2005), Fado (2008), Saisons sauvages (2010), Le prince noir de Lillian Russell, with Leslie Péan (2011), Aux Frontières de la soif (2013).

Recently on November 21, 2015, she has been honored with the "Prix Ivoire Award" by the jury for African Francophone Literature in French for her novel "Je suis vivant (I am alive)" published in April 2015 by Mercure de France Press. "Prix Ivoire" is an important literary prize awarded every year by the Ivorian Ministry of Culture and Francophone and the French Embassy in Cote d"ivoire at the initiative of the Ivorian Association for Akwaba Culture.

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Here is a picture of Rodney St Elois who became a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec.

Highly honored poet and author, Haitian-Canadian, Rodney Saint-Eloi, has been warmly received into the Academie des letters du Quebec.

His work has been published in English, Spanish, and Japanese, resulting in many awards of recognition.

As a member of the Literary Academy he wants to raise awareness of French language, literature, and cultural in the Francophonie. To honor him further he is up for the sought-after Governor General's literary award.

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Haitian Artist Gerald Bloncourt awarded Legion of Honor

Haitian-French Gerald Bloncourt, a painter, poet, photographer, and author received the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from French Minister for Overseas Territories, George Pan-Langevin.

Bloncourt, an activist and leader of the 1946 Haitian Revolution, was deported to France when President Lescot was overthrown. In Paris Bloncourt continued to criticize the Duvalier dictatorships. He has returned to Haiti several times and is Secretary-General of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and Democracy in Haiti.

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Here is a statue of the writer and Quebec screenwriter of Haitian origin, the academician Dany Laferrière as he is prepared to enter the Grevin Museum of Montreal.

Laferriere Sculpture latest Honor for Haitian-Canadian Writer

Haitian-Canadian novelist Dany Laferriere's likeness is being transformed into a sculpture piece for the Gavin Museum of Montreal to be installed in 2016.

Laferriere writes in French and published his first novel in 1985 "How to Make Love to a Negro without Getting Tired".

In 2013 he became a member of the Academie Francaise, and in 2014 was honored with the International Literature Award for the novel "The Return".

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Here is a picture of the Haitian-American Danielle Legros Georges, Boston's official Poet Laureate.

Danielle Legros Georges, a teacher of Creative Arts at Lesley University, is the new poet laureate of Boston. Her four year term will begin in January 2015. Danielle is a widely published poet and translator and a native of Haiti who moved to the United States at age of six with her parents who settled down in Mattapan, amid a small Haitian population, that has since expanded dramatically. She writes on a variety of topics, some of which was created out of her experience as a Haitian diaspora. Her academic area focuses on contemporary American poetry, Caribbean literature and studies, African-American poetry, literary translation, and the arts in education.

She will receive an annual stipend of $2,000 and a fund of $3,000 to arrange programs on "raising the consciousness of Bostonians on local poets". Since her mother died of a prolonged illness, she understands the needs and wants to work on the elder care facilities for senior citizens.

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Here is the only book released so far by President Michel Martelly.

Michel Martelly sale-signing of his autobiography book

Meet the author, Michel Martelly. Doing what few others in his capacity have done before him, the Haitian president penned his biography, giving readers a look into the life of the controversial man behind the title. At the Karibe Convention Center, President Martelly surprised patrons, including ministers, musicians, diplomats, senators and business professionals, by hosting a signing of his book. The book, simply titled The Autobiography of Michel Martelly, features a picture of the man on the covers. It was sole for $50 USD.

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This is the popular Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American author.

She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti but her parents left the country when she was only two years old.
Danticat wrote her first short story while living in Haiti about a girl who was visited by a clan each night. Two years later she published her first work in the English language titled "A Haitian-American Christmas. She later published many of her works such as Breath, Eyes, Memory (young adult novel, 1994), Krik? Krak! (stories, 1996), The Farming of Bones (novel, 1998), Behind the Mountains (young adult novel, 2002, part of the First Person Fiction series), After the Dance: A Walk Through Carnival in Jacmel, Haiti (travel book, 2002), and many more

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Here is the Haitian writer Yanick Lahens as he presents La couleur de l'aube.

Harkening back to the very Caribbean tradition of short-story telling, acclaimed Haitian author Yanick Lahens has helped keep Haitian literary culture alive, while racking up honors from around the world in literature. The author has also published two full-length works, La couleur de l'aube and Dans la maison du père, both of which have helped name her as Haiti's most important female author writing in French. Her writing deals with aspects of Haitian culture that showcase the national struggle, often depicting characters who deal with the rigors of life from a political, social, or a religious standpoint.

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Here is a Picture of Yanick Lahens as she was awarded France's prestigious Femina Prize. She received the prize for her book " Bain de lune"

Yenick Lahens Yanick Lahens was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on December 22, 1953. She completed her studies at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, then returned to Haiti to teach at Ecole Normale Superieure.

Yanick Lahens is a co-founder of the Association of Haitian writers and the "Culture and Creativity". She wrote several books including Exile, Tante Résia et les Dieux, Dans la maison du père, La Petite Corruption, La folie était venue avec la pluie, La Couleur de l'aube , Failles, Guillaume et Nathalie and Bain de lune

Yanick Lahens Awarded France's Prestigious Femina Prize
On Monday 3, 2014, an all-woman Jury awarded "France's Prestigious Femina Prize (Prix Femina)" to the Haitian writer Yanick Lahens. The authoress Lahens (born 22 December 1953) has received the award for her book titled "Bain de lune" (Bath Moon). It is a family epic that opens up on a stormy sea beach with a fisherman who discovers a girl that seems to have escaped great violence. The story traces the paths of voodoo magic to understand how and why she ended up on the sea beach. The Prix Femina is a French literary award that was created in 1904 by 22 writers from the "La Vie heureuse" (or The Happy Life, now it is known as Femina); it is decided and announced on the first Wednesday of November each year, exclusively by female jury, although the authors awarded are not gender restricted. Yanick Lahens completed her studies in France. She was a teacher, journalist, social activist (Action for Change or CPA), served in the cabinet of the Minister of Culture and now a member of the International Council of Francophone studies.

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