My debut historical novel-in-verse, When the Mapou Sings, will be published by Candlewick Press in December of this year. It is partly inspired by Zora Neale Hurston’s fieldwork in 1930s Haiti where she wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, and by my great-grandmother. I imagine the story of Lucille, Zora’s Haitian domestic worker who she praised in Tell My Horse, but whose real life slipped through history’s net.
I’m also the author of An Invisible Geography, poems of place and displacement. It includes my favorite type of writing, the prose poem, a versatile hybrid, like the verse novel. My books for younger readers include Women in Film and Sexism & Race (Being Female in America). My work has appeared in Haiti Noir, Becoming: What Makes a Woman, Spoon River Poetry Review, American Decades: Primary Sources, Literary Newsmakers, So Spoke the Earth, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Radcliffe Quarterly, and the On Being blog. I’ve also published film and book reviews, profiles, travel writing, and other nonfiction. I’m a member of the Authors Guild, Haitian Studies Association, We Need Diverse Books, and the Society for Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.
Haiti Noir, edited by Edwidge Danticat (2010)
“Departure Lounge” (Fiction)
I love that ‘Haiti Noir’ is totally unapologetic” … ”It’s bold, it’s stylized. It’s not like, ‘Give these writers a break.’ They can stand on their own.
—Johnny Temple, publisher of Akashic Books, quoted in The New York Times
What the reader takes away from Haiti Noir is not only a profound respect for the masterful work of Haitian women writers like Evelyne Trouillot and Nadine Pinede, but also a longing to know more.
―Ms. Magazine
The film industry has a wide variety of opportunities for talented writers, directors, and actors. This book introduces readers to some of the most influential women in the industry, including Ava DuVernay, Lupita Nyong’o, and Kathryn Bigelow.
An Invisible Geography (2012)
“A beguiling, convincing, lyrical voice, a fresh addition to American speech and American poetry.”
David Wagoner, poet & novelist, former chancellor of the American Academy of Poets
Sexism & Race (Being Female in America) with Duchess Harris (2017)
Race plays a significant role in shaping women of color’s experience with sexism. This title takes a look at the history of sexism that women of color have endured, the current issues surrounding this topic, and steps people can take to eliminate discriminatory practices.
Under the Volcano: The Best Writing of Our First 15 Years
Excerpt from a novel-in-progress
This anthology celebrates the 15th anniversary of Under the Volcano, which holds an annual writers workshop and conference in Mexico. It is “an incubator of literary talent, a catalyst for writers with books in progress and an international community of writers that transcends borders, languages, time and place.”
The Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home, edited by Jim Perlman and Deborah Cooper
“Provenance” (Poetry)
An engaging anthology on the theme of home that includes 20 personal essays and nearly 80 poems from diverse social and cultural perspectives, with previously uncollected writings by Jane Yolen, Marge Piercy, Naomi Shihab Nye, and many others.
So Spoke the Earth: The Haiti I Knew, the Haiti I Know, the Haiti I Want to Know, edited by M.J. Fievre
“The Mountain Beyond” (Essay)
An important anthology edited by M.J. Fievre in English, French, and Haitian Creole that it is a celebration of Haitian spirit, multiculturalism and diversity. Contributors include Edwidge Danticat, Jan Mapou, Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell.
Becoming: What Makes a Woman, edited by Jill McCabe Johnson
“Mon Deye Mon” (Memoir)
A must-read anthology of life-altering personal experiences. The diverse collection includes essays and poems by Ellen Bass, Peggy Shumaker, Lia Purpura, Dinah Lenney, Judith Slater, Marjorie Saiser, Dilruba Ahmed, Julie L. Moore, Maria Terrone, and more.
PORTFOLIO AND PROJECTS