Down from the mountains men come, each with a rooster tucked under the arm, fighting cocks, some small and feisty, some huge enough to knock out with one blow. Their women follow, huge breasted many of them, like there’s hens … Continue reading John Grey: Haitian Cockfight, 1953
Born in Haiti, Rojmeck (Roland Mecklembourg) is a self-taught artist and self-made man. “I will describe my art the way I describe myself: a Primitive who lives in a modern, yet surreal world.” Roland Mecklembourg Girl Hiding from the World Acrylic on … Continue reading Rojmeck: Girl Hiding from the World
In the background, a girl wears a sunny yellow t-shirt with a sailboat inside a heart. I want to ask if she got the shirt at one of Virginia’s Annual Lake Festivals. Does she remember— The colorful tents up and … Continue reading Tammy L. Tillotson: The Picture of Haiti
Pascale Doxy is a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her passion for drawing started when she was a toddler. She was introduced to water color at the age of twelve. At seventeen, dissatisfied with the light tones of water color, Doxy … Continue reading Pascale Doxy: Art as Therapy
Here is a stand, let us sit for a night or two or three in silence before we speak. I wish it were a copse of blue-flowering lignum, shedding petals that float like butterflies, or the ceibas under whose canopies … Continue reading Jeremy Paden: On this Fault, Let Us Write a Poem
Phoebe Rusch: Thank you for featuring me, MJ. It’s an honor. MJ Fievre: You’re welcome, Phoebe. I’m happy to help promote your fundraising campaign. Do you want to say a little about that? Phoebe: Yes! I’m trying to raise money … Continue reading Haiti, Phoebe, and the Oloffson: At the Crossroad of Race and Nationality and Class: An Interview
Listen to Katia D. Ulysse read her story “Take a Picture.” Katia D. Ulysse was born in Haiti, and moved to the United States as a teen. Her writings have been published in numerous literary journals, including the Caribbean Writer, Meridians, Calabash,Peregrine, … Continue reading Katia D. Ulysse reads “Take a Picture”
They say that in 1803 all Haitian roosters lost their ability to tell time—or at least to admit they knew how—when Toussaint L’Ouverture was betrayed at the hands of one of his own. It was the beginning of a new … Continue reading The Wee Hours, by Diane Allerdyce
Three weeks after the earthquake, Enel and I are both amazed he’s alive as we step through the sharp smell of decaying bodies coming up from under the rubble of his university. [He had been inside the university building when … Continue reading The World Crashes All the Time, by Kent Annan
Leita Kaldi’s Five Favorite Fiascos in Haiti, part 5: Lost in Translation (from Kaldi’s memoir, In the Valley of Atibon) Walking through the hospital one day I passed the isolation ward, where people with contagious diseases like TB and AIDS … Continue reading Lost in Translation, by Leita Kaldi
To celebrate the release of Haiti Noir 2: The Classics, edited by Edwidge Danticat, Akashic Books asked contributors from both of their Haiti Noir volumes to participate in an exquisite corpse style story—a serial story in which each participant builds off … Continue reading Dark Days in Port-au-Prince
Leita Kaldi’s Five Favorite Fiascos in Haiti, part 4: Zombies (from Kaldi’s memoir, In the Valley of Atibon) Antoine Veus, the retired morgue attendant, told me a zombie story I’d never forget. Antoine was very tall, heavy-shouldered and slightly bent with … Continue reading Zombies, by Leita Kaldi
To celebrate the release of Haiti Noir 2: The Classics, edited by Edwidge Danticat, Akashic Books asked contributors from both of their Haiti Noir volumes to participate in an exquisite corpse style story—a serial story in which each participant builds off … Continue reading Exquisite Corpse: Haiti Noir
Leita Kaldi’s Five Favorite Fiascos in Haiti, part 3: Ti Moustik’s Coq (from Kaldi’s memoir, In the Valley of Atibon) My restless nights were disturbed by a rooster. He trumpeted his ko-ko-ri-co outside my bedroom window as if he served as … Continue reading Ti Moustik’s Coq, by Leita Kaldi