Edwidge Danticat

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Edwidge Danticat (pronunciation Ed-WEEDJ Dan-tih-CAH) (b. Port-au-Prince, Haïti, January 19, 1969) is a Haïtian American author.

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[edit] Early life

When she was two years old, her father André immigrated to New York from Haïti, to be followed two years later by her mother Rose. This left Edwidge and her younger brother Eliab to be raised by her aunt and uncle. It was during these years that she was exposed to the Haïtian practice of storytelling. While still in Haïti, Edwidge wrote her first short story about a girl who was visited by a clan of women each night. Although her formal education in Haïti was in French, she always spoke Haïtian Kréyòl at home. At the age of 12, she moved to Brooklyn, New York to join her parents in a heavily Haïtian-American neighbourhood. As an immigrant teenager Edwidge's accent and upbringing were a source of discomfort for her, thus she turned to literature for solace. Two years later she published her first writing, in English.

[edit] Education and writing career

After graduating high school, Edwidge entered Barnard College in New York City. Initially she had intended on studying nursing, however her love of writing won out and she received a BA in French literature. Later she earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Her thesis at Brown was her novel Breath, Eyes, Memory, which was published by Soho Press in 1994. This would later become an Oprah's Book Club selection in 1998.

Since completing her Masters Degree, she has taught creative writing at New York University, and the University of Miami. She has also worked with filmmakers Patricia Benoit and Jonathan Demme on projects on Haïtian art and documentaries about Haïti. Her short stories, such as "New York Day Woman", have appeared in over 25 periodicals and have been anthologized several times. Her work has been translated into other languages such as French, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.

"The Farming of Bones" was dramatised as a Radio 4 serial in 2006, but received a poor critical reception.

Edwidge is proud of her Haitian origin and returns often to Haïti to visit relatives.

[edit] Works

[edit] Awards

  • 1994 Fiction Award The Caribbean Writer
  • 1995 Woman of Achievement Award, Barnard College
  • Pushcart Short Story Prize for "Between the Pool and the Gardenias"
  • National Book Award nomination for Krik? Krak!
  • 1996 Best Young American Novelists for Breath, Eyes, Memory by GRANTA
  • Lila-Wallace-Reader's Digest Grant
  • 1999 American Book Award for The Farming of the Bones
  • The International Flaiano Prize for literature
  • The Super Flaiano Prize for The Farming of the Bones

Danticat has also won fiction awards from Essence and Seventeen Magazines, was named "1 of 20 people in their twenties who will make a difference" in Harpers Bazaar, was featured in New York Times Magazine as one of "30 under 30" people to watch, and was called one of the "15 Gutsiest Women of the Year" by Jane Magazine. Oprah's Book Club made Breath, Eyes, Memory a book of the month for May 1998.

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