la dous ki vyen

The written word

To read is to marvel, to explore and meander through the universe of numerous alphabets, emotions, thoughts and intellect of writers: this eclectic group of people who immortalize what they think, believe, understand, and dream through a composition of words…

To celebrate Haitian literature, the Association of Haitian Professionals regrouped 30 Haitian authors at Howard University in Washington D.C. for a book fair Sunday, May 25th.

Patrick Lemoine, author of “Fort-Dimanche, Dungeon of Death” (a testimonial of the 6 torturous years of imprisonment he spent in the infamous prison called Fort Dimanche. Patrick wrote these memoirs to immortalize his comrades who perished under the infernal regime of the Duvaliers.)
Visit the site dedicated to Fort Dimanche victims: http://www.fordi9.com/

Michèle Voltaire Marcelin, author of “La Désenchantée” (a novel about the hypocrisy and cruelty of family and social life in Haiti.)

Sax player Alix Buyu Ambroisewith his latest cd “Marassa” (a fusion of Haitian traditional rhythms and jazz.)

Michèle Voltaire Marcelin and Roberta McLeod, Director of Howard University’s Blackburn Center in Washington D.C.

Michèle, with film director Mario Delatour (‘Un Certain Bord de Mer’ – about the migration of Arabs from Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere to Haiti since 1866 and their role since then) and Frantz Voltaire, director of Cidihca (a Montréal-based cultural research center) and documentarist (Les chemins de la mémoire: “Haiti before Duvalier” and “In the name of the Father” which recount Haiti’s history from the early 1900’s to the Duvalier era)
Patrick, Michèle and Eddy Mésidor, author of “Il était une fois Haiti” (a critical essay about Haiti and what it means to be Haitian in the 21st century), traveled from New York to attend the fair.

Author and poet Patrick Sylvain came from Boston with his new volume of bilingual poetry “Love, Lust & Loss“.

Margaret Papillon flew in from Florida to promote her latest novel “La mal-aimée”

Visitors enjoyed the opportunity to browse through new books and chat informally with the authors.

Michèleand Buyu in performance: a perfect fusion of poetry and music.

“A Césaire poem explodes and whirls about itself like a rocket, suns burst forth whirling and exploding like new suns—it perpetually surpasses itself.” Sartre

The passion of Buyu‘s solos on sopranosaxophone never ceases to amaze.

The audience was enthralled by the purity of the voice of Jean-Luc Princivil, violinist and lyrical contra-tenor.

To honor the memory of poet, writer, essayist, jazz loverJean-Claude Charles who died in Paris earlier this month, a moment of silence was observed.
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18)

California-basedNadège Clitandre is the executive director of an organization partnered with Bibliothèque du Soleil in Port-au-Prince. Their mission is to develop similar community-centered public libraries in Haiti.

Authors and master story-tellers Maude Heurtelou and Charlot Lucien, animated children’s hour at the fair.


Among the authors present was Leslie Péan whose study of corruption in 6 volumes covers the period from 1791 to 1990, from the French colony of Saint Domingue to Haiti. His “Political Economy of Corruption” shows how corrupt representations stemming from the racist colonial color ideology has permeated all aspects of life in Haiti.


Chairman Bob Rémy surrounded by Josaphat Large, Jean-Max Calvin, Etienne Télémaque, Patrick Lemoine, Frantz Leconte and Maude Heurtelou.

Keeping Haitian culture alive in the Diaspora is an important mission for all the writers who attended this literary event and we give many thanks to Bob Rémy, the chairman of the Book Fair, who gave us the opportunity to share our thoughts and ideas with the visitors.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am. It is filed under prose, reviews and tagged with buyu ambroise, Haiti, Howard University, michèle voltaire marcelin, patrick lemoine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.