book - Haiti Observer Blog

Jerome Pierre Pradel Pompilus was one of the most respected scholars of Haiti. He was born in 1914 and died in 2000. He was born in a town called Arcahaie located in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Pradel was a writer, linguist, grammarian and teacher and defended both French and Haitian Creole within Francophonie. After he completed his high school education, Pradel Pompilus graduated in law from Law Degree in the year 1936. In the same year 1936 he became the professor of Latin and French in Alexandre Petion Port-au-Prince and Toussaint Louverture schools.

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The 19th annual Book Madness happened on May 30th in Tabarre, Haiti. It was held at Sugar Cane Park and 129 Haitian writers were present to autograph copies of their work.

Josette Darguste, Minister of Culture, expressed her appreciation to Unibank and Le Nouvelliste, for their monetary support to make the event a success. In turn, Executive Editor, Frantz Duval of Le Nouvelliste, said he was grateful for the continuing support of President Martelly and the Ministry of Culture for its commitment in promoting Haitian writers. Next to offer his thanks, Unibank spokesman, Guy Supplice, said the Haitian government was to be praised for its fourth year of active involvement in the event. He added 14 rural towns in Haiti would be holding 2013's Book Madness.

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Born in Port-au-Prince on the last day of December 1956, Lyonel Trouillot grew up with an interest in literature. From a family of lawyers, Trouillot began following the prescribed route early on and studied law until his love of the written word won out and he started writing seriously.

He was forced to leave Haiti in the 1980's due to the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier and he ran to America. Having not lost his love of writing, Trouillot continued to write for magazines, newspapers and other publications as he'd done in Haiti, and also across the Diaspora. He created essays, novels, poems, and even song lyrics in the case of songs by artists such as Jean Coulanges, Manno Charlemagne, Atis Endepandan and Tambou Libète.

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"I am this: this earth here, and I have it in my blood. Look at my color; it seems as though the earth faded onto me and onto you too."

Jacques Roumain, like many of history's other literary giants, lived a short life but managed to leave such brilliant words behind they would be spoken for centuries following his death. Through his poems he opened up a colorful, complex world that harkened to the struggles of his contemporaries and has given fodder for great new works by those he inspired and homage-paying re-enactments in the present.

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Jean Price-Mars, leading mind of the Black intelligentsia, assumed prominent roles in the Haitian government as a young person barely out of his teens. The government delegated him Ambassador of Haiti to France, Germany, the Dominican Republic, and U.S. His scientific aptitude led him to study anthropology and medicine, his gift for analysis made him an academician.

Price-Mars worked as teacher, politician, and writer. During his political career, he served as Secretary of State, ran for the presidency, and represented his country as two-term senator. As thinker and writer, he advocated negritude, a pride in being black and the empowerment that meant.

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Born in Jacmel in 1841 to a well-to-do mulatto couple, Hannibal Price began life above the curve. His well-funded education gave him the means to rise high in various respects and he became known as an author as well as a diplomat, having had the post of ambassador from Haiti to the United States for three years from 1890 until his death in 1893.

Price also acted as a Provisional Government Counselor after President Michel Domingue's fall in 1875 and was a serious advocate of Florvil Hyppolite. During the time he played the role of Minister Plenipotentiary to Washington he wrote the book he would be most known for entitled, 'De la Réhabilitation de la Race Noire par la République d'Haïti' (On the Rehabilitation of the Black Race by the Republic of Haiti). This further journey into authorship and the subject matter discussed was said to be in answer to 'Hayti or the Black Republic' by Spenser St. John. Published posthumously, the book sets about to comprehensively show all the possibilities for Haiti if the chains of illiteracy and the consuming practice of vodou were not in existence. It also endeavored to defend the Negro race and present the country to the foreign world in a more friendly light through the discourse of the history and social life of Haiti so voluminously documented within the pages.

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The repertoire of award-winning author Edwidge Danticat includes an entry to Oprah's book club as well as critically acclaimed autobiographical epics. Whether she's written a novel or a short story collection, readers are bound to get a story that deals with the difficulties and tensions of living life in a foreign land.

In the memoir 'Brother, I'm Dying' Danticat presented the story of her life and those of the two men she loved the most, her father and his older brother, who both died in a year that brought life's complexities starkly to her mind as, while dealing with death, she also welcomed life with the birth of her daughter.

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Justin Chrysostome Dorsainvil, popularly known as J.C. Dorsainvil, was and educator and an author. He was born on 1880 and died in the year 1942. He was born in the city of Port-au-Prince and after receiving his education in Haiti, he worked as a teacher. Justin Chrysostome Dorsainvil write several books and all his works concentrated on Haitian society, Haitian history, Haitian politics and science. He also wrote on Haitian Voodoo or Vodou culture. Overall he has 25 literary works under his belt with 70 publications in three different languages.

Some of the notable works by Justin Chrysostome Dorsainvil include Vaudou et Névrose published in 1913, Une Explication Philologique du Vaudou published in 1924, Vaudou et Magie published in 1937, Le Problème de l'Enseignement Primaire en Haïti published in 1922 and Quelques Vues Politiques et Morales published in 1934. Some of his books have been digitized and Vaudou et Névrose is one of them that was digitized in 2008.

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University Henri Christophe gets a donation of around 13,000 books from the former President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez. With the addition of these books, the number of books for reference available for students at the University has tripled.

These books have been offered by a book distributor group called Follett, based in the United States. Contribution to the donation to a lesser extent has been made by UNESCO as well.

Gratitude Expressed

Teachers and students of Haiti expressed their gratitude to Leonel Fernandez and the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic had helped the construction of the University Henri Christophe in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake at a cost of 30 million dollars. It was also assisted by Supervising Engineers Office of State Works of the Dominican Republic.

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Haiti is a desperately poor country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere in fact. Up to 80% of the population is illiterate. So it is interesting to consider the program the National Directorate of Books, National Library, and Libraries without Borders (BSF) is attempting to do to combat the problem.

On July 12, 2012, the tripartite began the Biblio Tap-Tap Program, a mobile library, which will deploy three jitney buses to several areas in the country. The stop-off points include the region around Port-au-Prince and north and central sectors of Haiti. Jitneys will visit each destination point monthly, with a library of 400 titles for each locale, out of its inventory of 2,400 books. The program is designed to serve the unemployed, youth that have dropped out of school, and the homeless. The literacy program will meet the education needs of approximately 5,000 youth and adults.

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