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Oswald Durant, Haitian Poet

Oswald Durant was one of the most important poets to come out of a nation chock full of influential, significant writers. Very little information is readily available about his childhood, save that he was born in Cap-Haïtien on the 17th of September, 1840, but the life he led past this period of no record has led him to be likened to the great wordsmiths of Italy and England, Dante and Shakespeare respectively. Also, like most other of Haiti's important writers, Durant had strong political views that, in him, formed aspirations.

Oswald Durant became published in his early thirties with works like 'La Mort de nos Cocotier's, 'Pantoum Triste' , 'Rires et Pleurs', 1883's 'Choucoune', about the comeliness of Haiti's women, and 'Chant National', a poem about Haiti's history that rose to the pinnacle of popularity for its patriotism.

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Dr. Pradel Pompilus, respected Haitian scholar

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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Haitian Writer Georges Anglade

Georges Anglade was a Haitian creole writer who was born in Port-au-Price on July 18, 1944. He received his education from École normale supérieure and then and then went on to obtain a diploma degree in Social Sciences and also received a law degree from the Faculty of Law in the year 1965. The same year he moved to Strasbourg. From 1965 to 1969 he studied at Strasbourg's Centre for Applied Geography and went on to obtain a doctorate graduate degree. During September 1969 he moved to Quebec, Canada where he played a very crucial role at Université du Québec à Montréal and founded the Department of Geography with some other learned friends.

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Teller of Tales Maurice Sixto

Haitian storyteller Maurice Sixto began life in Gonaïves in 1919. Born into privileged circumstances, son of an engineer, he studied at elite Sainte Louis de Gonzague High School and pursued a legal career at University of Haiti. While there, he fell into journalism working at Le Matin. He then taught English in the Republic of Congo, and was attached to the diplomatic service in Paris.

However, Sixto's greatest contribution to Haiti were his gifts as raconteur. Using his skills as a voice actor, he developed characters to address social ills hounding Haitian culture. One controversial topic of his satires was the unspeakable practice of child slavery, known as restavék. Restavék means servant, unfortunate children who end up as slaves when their families can't care for them. Farmed out to wealthy families to work, they suffer physical, mental, and emotional abuses.

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Lyonel Trouillot and his love for writing

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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Marie-Celie Agnant, Haitian Writer

Not all writers begin their stories at the same place. Since 'Once upon a time' isn't half so important as the 'Happily ever after', it is no strike against her that Marie-Célie Agnant didn't begin her personal narrative at the same start as others in the field of literature, as an aspiring writer.

Born in the Haitian capital city, Port-au-Princ, in 1953, Agnant worked as an interpreter and as a translator for many years. After moving to Quebec, Canada at the start of the 70's she also worked as a French teacher before reentering the world as a storyteller. With many shorts, full blown novels, children's books and poems under her belt, Agnant has truly transitioned into a storyteller of more than simple worth to the Haitian literary heritage.

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Rene Depestre, Famous Haitian Writer

Haiti's most famously remembered, celebrated and praised writers seemed to all tend towards not just the literary arts, but a decidedly political activism. Whether it is the art which inspired the politics or the politics which gave way to the great art, in the case of the writings of Rene Depestre, both appear hand-in-hand, twain catalysts which drove him to create essays, novels, short stories and his famous poetry.

Rene Depestre was born in Jacmel on August 29, 1926, but, when his father died ten years later, he went to Port-au-Prince to live with his grandmother. The nostalgia of leaving his remaining family would later greatly influence his work. His debut poetry collection, entitled, 'Étincelles' was published in 1945. Just shy of 20 years old he also co-founded a magazine which would later have the distinction of having an edition seized by the government in their first year for the homage paid to Breton.

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Dany Laferriere, How To Make Love To A Negro Without Getting Tired

Haitian born writer Dany Laferrière has spent his career writing things that provoke. From his work in the weekly 'Le Petit Samedi Soir' to his first novel, 'How to make love to a Negro' (1987), Laferrière has carved his success with the blade of controversy, whether real or formulated.

He was born in Port-au-Prince as Windsor Kléber Laferrière on April 13, 1953. After growing up in Petit Goâve, he began working as a journalist until the late 1970's when the weekly he wrote in collaboration with Gaston Raymond most likely led to the murder of the latter. Laferrière felt it best to relocate to Canada.

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Felix Morisseau-Leroy, first significant Poet to write in Haitian Creole

The list of ordinary men, not kings or presidents or any other in an official capacity, who have influenced true and lasting forward movement in their home countries, is a short one. The list of Haitian writers who have created a legacy of literary, social and political worth is shorter still. The efforts of one such ordinary Haitian writer puts him at the pinnacle of both lists and elevates him from an ordinary Haitian writer to a legend of extraordinary significance to Haiti, it's Diaspora and many other countries in the world.

Morisseau-Leroy lived a long life from 1912 to 1998. At the beginning, his upbringing in a prosperous mulatto family saw him well-educated and fluent in French and English. His lucky, unchallenged existence was soon broadened by the addition of a wife, whom he credited as his muse, who famously admired his horsemanship, and would later give him three children.

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Jacques Roumain, Famous Haitian writer

"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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