Jacques-Stephen Alexis - Haiti Observer Blog

Jacques-Stephen Alexis was born in 1922 with literary blood already in his veins courtesy of his writer father, Stephen Alexis. His upbringing in Haiti and the influence of other prolific Haitian writers, like Jacques Roumain before him, molded Alexis into one of the country's most well loved writers.

Though he'd completed his schooling in medicine, writing had remained a passion and he gained early recognition on his first piece, an essay on the poet, Hamilton Garoute. This early success was soon followed by his work with La Ruche and then by a string of novels which tended towards the heavy narrative telling of the Haitian city-dwelling peasant.

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