EXPATS! Haitian Women Poets in Exile: A Trilingual Reading in English, French, and Haitian Creole

Haitian born and raised Angie Bell is the author of Kreyasyon Mistik and 35 segond. The co-founder of BOUKAN, a popular cultural show in North Miami, she also co-hosts Plezi Solèy on Island TV and coordinates Rhythm Foundation’s Big Night in Little Haiti. Bell is the co-chair of the Fundraising and PR committee of the Haitian American Professionals Coalition (HAPC), the Executive Director of Atizan International, and the founder of SEproject, a non-profit organization with the goal of helping young children in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.

M.J. (Jessica) Fievre published her first mystery novel at the age of sixteen. She went on to author nine books in French. Her children’s book, I Am Riding, is written in three languages: English, French, and Haitian Creole. Fievre lived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti under the regime of President-Priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It was a time of violent protests, a crippling embargo, nightly shootings, home invasions and robberies, and the burning alive of former security-militia members in neighborhood streets. Her memoir, A Sky the Color of Chaos (Beating Windward), tells of M.J.’s childhood growing up steeped in the danger and violence that rocked Haiti in the 1990’s. Intent on escaping her country and her home, dominated by her irascible father, Fievre developed an interest in medicine and writing, both of which proved a salvation. Edwidge Danticat writes, “. . . a heartfelt and deeply honest coming of age memoir that examines her family as well as her country.”

Born and raised in Haiti, Naomiel is a spoken-word poet whose powerful lyricism has been widely praised. She co-founded BOUKAN, a popular cultural show in Miami, and is the co-host of the television show Plezi Solèy on Island TV. Naomiel is currently working on a spoken word CD that will feature her most popular poems. She holds a degree in International Relations and Political Science and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Florida International University.

Rebecca N. Carmant is the author of Sunshine on Stormy Seas, a poetry collection that gives voice to the battles the Haitian-American writer faces as a woman of color, a person of faith, and the mother of an autistic child. Carmant holds a Master’s degree in Education and is pursuing a doctoral degree in Leadership. She advocates for many causes, including autism and social justice.