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Haitian literature is rich and vast. For those of us in the diaspora, literature can help us dive into the country we are striving to reconnect to and get a deeper glance at the history we hold so dear. Here is a list of a few Haitian literary classics that have been translated into English.
Marie Vieux Chauvet – Love Anger Madness
Vieux-Chauvet was born in Port-au-Prince in 1916. She is the author of five novels, including Dance on the Volcano, Fonds des Nègres, Fille d’Haiti, and Les Rapaces.
The trilogy is set in Duvalier era Haiti, chronicles three families’ struggles to navigate their passions, state sanction terror and obsessions. The books were considered so scandalous that Vieux-Chauvet had to flee Haiti.
Love Anger Madness was translated by Rose-Myriam Rejouis and Val Vinokur, with an introduction by Edwidge Danticat.
Jacques Stephen Alexis – General Sun, My Brother
Alexis was born in 1922 in Gonaives. He was a poet, author, medical doctor and activist. He was a descendant of Jean Jacques Dessalines on his mother’s side. General Sun, My Brother tells the story of Hilarion and Claire – Heureuse who travel to the Dominican Republic after Hilarion is imprisoned. While in prison he meets a political militant who changes his worldview. This story was translated by Carrol F. Coates.
Jacques Roumain – Masters of the Dew
Jacques Roumain was born in Port-au-Prince in 1907. He was an author, poet and politician who founded the Haitian Communist Party. He died at 37.
Manuel returns home to his village after spending several years in Cuba. He finds his parents and community members suffering due to a drought. Manuel vows to solve his community’s water problem and falls in love with Annaise, rousing family rivalries. This book was translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.
Jean Price Mars – So Spoke the Uncle
A true renaissance man, Jean Price Mars was a teacher, writer, politician, doctor and diplomat. Written during the American occupation at the turn of the last century, “So Spoke the Uncle,” is a collection of essays meant to protect and support Haitian culture, especially folkloric traditions. The book is considered a classic Haitian ethnological text at a pivotal moment in the nation’s history.
Evelyne Trouillot – Infamous Rosalie
Evelyne Trouillot remains a titan of Haitian literature. In the “Infamous Rosalie,” Trouillot takes us into the years leading up to the Haitian Revolution through the eyes of a multi-faceted protagonist who reckons with the stranglehold on slavery on not just her but her unborn child and those in her family who suffered the horrors of the Middle Passage. This novel, which is Trouillot’s first, was awarded the Prix Soroptimist de la romanciere francophone.
Rene Depestre – Hadriana in All My Dreams
Rene Depestre is a Haitian poet and novelist, whose work has inspired many artists who’ve come after him. A communist, he spent years in Cuba during the Duvalier regime. Hadriana in All My Dreams is a bouyon of a tale filled with zombies, kanaval, love and comedy taking place in the 1930s providing a wide-ranging tale providing a strong dash of Haitian magic surrealism.
Franketienne is known as the “father of Haitian letters” and his work, Dezafi shows us why. A spiralism-styled novel, the story centers on a hougan who attempts to strongman his community by turning its members into zombies. The book, which is the first novel to be written and published in Kreyòl, is a scathing critique on the Duvalier regime.
Louis Philippe Dalembert – The Mediterannean Wall
Renowned Haitian poet and novelist, Louis Philippe Dalembert, is known for exploring the themes of roaming in his works. The Mediterannean Wall follows the dangerous journey of three women from Eritria, Syria and Nigeria as they escape to Europe across the Mediterannean Sea. This book is translated by Marjolijn de Jager.
Fresh and modern, poet and novelist, Kettly Mars, is one of the most prominent women voices in contemporary Haitian literature. In Savage Seasons, Mars pens an intriguing story of compromises a woman must make to save her family who have been targeted by the tyrannical Duvalier regime. This novel was translated to English by Jeanine Herman.
Yanick Lahens – Aunt Resia and the spirits
Yanick Lahens is a prolific Haitian writer, former minister and radio host. In Aunt Resia and the Spirits, Lahens tells stories about the survival, generational trauma, and hope so alive in lives of Haitians. This collection is the first collection of Lahens’s stories available in English. This collection is translated by Betty Wilson, with a foreword by Edwidge Danticat.
