Posted on

Opal Palmer Adisa Celebrates Haiti/Ayiti

Opal Palmer Adisa, Ph.D — Editor of The Caribbean Writer

Diverse and multi-genre, Opal Palmer Adisa, is an exceptional talent, nurtured on cane-sap and the oceanic breeze of Jamaica.

The Editor of The Caribbean Writer, Adisa writes both poetry and prose; she is a photographer, professor, educator and cultural activist, as well. Adisa has lectured and read her work throughout the United States, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Germany, England and Prague, and has performed in Italy and Bosnia.

An award-winning poet and prose writer Adisa has fourteen titles to her credit, including the novel, It Begins With Tears (1997), that Rick Ayers proclaimed as one of the most motivational works for young adults. She has been a resident artist in internationally acclaimed residencies such as El Gounda (Egypt), Sacatar Institute (Brazil) and Tryon Center, (North Carolina) and Headlines Center for the Arts (California, USA). Opal Palmer Adisa’s work has been reviewed by Ishmael Reed, Al Young, and Alice Walker (Color Purple), who described her work as “solid, visceral, important stories written with integrity and love.”

Some of her published works are: Caribbean Erotic, anthology (co-edited with Donna Aza Weir-Soley), 201o.  

What A Woman Is, poetry and paintings (with Egyptian painter Shayma Kamel) 2010.

I Name Me Name (poetry collection), Peepal Tree Press, 2008.

Until Judgment Comes (short story collection), 2007.

Eros Muse (poetry and essays), Africa World Press, 2006.

The Caribbean Writer‘s 25th Anniversary bi-lingual issue focuses on Haiti.  It includes writers such as Edwidge Danticat, Mirlande Jean-Gilles, Ibi Anu Zoboi, Evelyne Trouillot, Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell, Michelle Y. Remy, Wilna Julmiste, and many others.

InnerView

 

 

Posted on

Patrick Belizaire: Life Purpose

Patrick Belizaire“

 

“It will be written that Haiti prospered,” says Patrick Belizaire of Thomonde.

Patrick came to the United States at the age of 10. He lived in Boston and in Washington, DC for many years before returning to Haiti in 2007.

In his own words, Patrick reveals why he believes he had to return home years before the devastating earthquake: “My only objective is to participate in rebuilding Haiti’s agricultural infrastructure–one farm town at a time. My work is based on the idea of the “konbit.” Farmers come together; we help one another. Our approach is to train farmers on using more efficient machinery. We bring in experts to help upgrade measures for better planting. We’re building a nursery and agricultural resource center where farmers can access the assistance they need to be successful. Finally, we connect farmers with purchasers for their crops.

Read Patrick Belizaire’s InnerView

Posted on

Michèle Voltaire Marcelin: Life Always Triumphs

Michèle Voltaire Marcelin is a writer, poet, performer, and visual artist who has lived in Haiti, Chile and the United States.

Her first novel, La Désenchantée, was published in 2006. Since then, she has published its Spanish translation, La Desencantada, as well as two other books of poetry and prose: Lost and Found, and Amours et Bagatelles– which was recently translated to Spanish and which she presented this February at the International Book Fair of Havana, Cuba.

Michele’s work is also included in two poetry anthologies published in France :Terre de Femmes (Editions Bruno Doucey) and Cahier Haiti by Revue d’Art, Littérature et Musique.

Maya Angelou declared her poems “stunning” in an interview on OprahRadio:

Haitian Poet Michele Voltaire Marcelin – Audio – Oprah.com

www.oprah.com

http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Haitian-Poet-Michele-Voltaire-Marcelin-Audio

Author Edwidge Danticat wrote: “The seventy-four poems in Michèle Voltaire Marcelin’s “Lost and Found” are as sensual as they are lyrical, as tender as they are incandescent. Make sure you are sitting down, or better yet lying down, with your beloved and a glass of wine, as you read them. Your heart — and your love life — will never be the same.”

Michèle recently read her poetry at the International Miami Book Fair along side Paul Farmer, Salman Rushdie, and Edwidge Danticat. She’s been featured as one of the poets of the NewsHour on PBS and interviewed by CNN Español.

She has performed her poetry solo and with jazz bands at the Brooklyn Museum , the MoCADA, La MaMa theatre, Cornelia Street Cafe, the United Nations, the Segal Theatre, and most recently at UCLA with Jonathan Demme, Maggie Steber, Mark Denner in Haiti Stories.

She has shared the stage with artistic luminaries Emeline Michel, Manno Charlemagne, Buyu Ambroise, Beethova Obas, Jessica St.Vil of KanuDance. Her artwork has been exhibited at the MoCADA, the African-American Museum of L.I., The Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center and the Mupanah in Haiti.

This Port-au-Prince born artist writes in 3 languages and currently lives and teaches in New York.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Markus Schwartz: Denmark Meets Haiti

Markus Schwartz Photo by Tequila Minsky

New InnerView

Master percussionist and bona fide tanbourinè, Markus Schwartz, reflects on his own private Haiti and his relationship with “the oldest instrument after the human voice.”

Markus was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but a part of him is deeply rooted in Haitian culture. In English or in impeccable Kreyòl, he is direct and unpretentious. He speaks with reverence for the instrument he spent the last two decades studying. Although he has performed and recorded with top Haitian artists Beethova Obas, Emeline Michel, and Wyclef Jean, Markus always refers to himself as a student.

Of his first introduction to the tanbou, Markus says: “I don’t think anything happens by chance. In West African tradition, they might call it Fa. Your life has a map. It’s not an unalterable course, but I do believe certain things are placed in your path either to help you achieve your goals or to help move you from one period of your life to another.”

Read the Full InnerView