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Haiti Noir, edited by Edwidge Danticat

Mystery/Fiction Anthology | 300 pages

HARDCOVER EDITION (January 2011):
ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-013-7 l $24.95

TRADE PAPERBACK EDITION (January 2011):
ISBN-13: 978-1-936070-65-7 l $15.95


HARDCOVER EDITION:

PAPERBACK EDITION:


Click here for events featuring editor Edwidge Danticat, with various contributors.

Click here to see more titles in the Akashic Noir Series.

Akashic recruits Danticat, one of the truly great contemporary writers, to edit this timely volume featuring stories set both before and after the devastating earthquake.

Featuring brand-new stories by: Edwidge Danticat, Rodney Saint-Eloi, Madison Smartt Bell, Gary Victor, M.J. Fievre, Marvin Victor, Yanick Lahens, Louis-Philipe Dalembert, Kettly Mars, Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel, Evelyne Trouillot, Katia Ulysse, Ibi Aanu Zoboi, Nadine Pinede, and others.

Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

"A wide-ranging collection from the beloved but besieged Caribbean island. [...] The 36th entry in Akashic's Noir series (which ranges from Bronx to Delhi to Twin Cities) is beautifully edited, with a spectrum of voices."
--Kirkus Reviews

"This anthology will give American readers a complex and nuanced portrait of the real Haiti not seen on the evening news and introduce them to some original and wonderful writers."
--Library Journal

"Danticat has succeeded in assembling a group portrait of Haitian culture and resilience that is cause for celebration."
--Publishers Weekly

"A solid contribution to the [noir] series, especially for its showcasing of a setting not commonly portrayed in crime fiction."
--Booklist

"Danticat has put together a collection possessing classic noir elements--crimes and criminals and evil deeds only sometimes punished--but also something else, perhaps uniquely Haitian too."
--Los Angeles Times

"The characters that emerge in the anthology are divergent figures, alienated by exile, thriving in the diaspora and devastated by limited choices. Their stories are multi-layered, thrilling and necessary."
--Ms. Magazine

HAITI HAS A TRAGIC HISTORY and continues to be one of the most destitute places on the planet, especially in the aftermath of the earthquake. Here, however, Danticat reveals that even while the subject matter remains dark, the caliber of Haitian writing is of the highest order.

EDWIDGE DANTICAT was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when she was twelve. She is the author of Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist, and the novel-in-stories The Dew Breaker. Her memoir, Brother, I'm Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award and a 2008 winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a 2009 recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant and lives in Miami.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

PART I: WHICH NOIR?
"Odette" PATRICK SYLVAIN (Christ-Roi)
"The Rainbow's End" M.J. FIEVRE (Kenscoff)
"The Finger" GARY VICTOR (Port-au-Prince)
"Paradise Inn" KETTLY MARS (Gokal)
"Which One?" EVELYNE TROUILLOT (Lalue)
"Twenty Dollars" MADISON SMARTT BELL (Morne du Cap)

PART II: NOIR CROSSROADS
"Claire of the Sea Light" EDWIDGE DANTICAT (Ville Rose)
"The Harem" IBI AANU ZOBOI (Delmas)
"Rosanna" JOSAPHAT-ROBERT LARGE (Pacot)
"Maloulou" MARIE LILY CERAT (Martissant)
"Dangerous Crossroads" LOUIS PHILIPPE DALEMBERT (Petionville)
"Blues for Irene" MARVIN VICTOR (Carrefour-Feuilles)

PART III: WHO IS THAT NOIR?
"The Last Department" KATIA D. ULYSSE (Putis Blain)
"Departure Lounge" NADINE PINEDE (Cap Haitien)
"Who Is that Man?" YANICK LAHENS (Saint-Marc)
"Mercy at the Gate" MARIE KETSIA THEODORE-PHAREL (Croix-des-Bouquets)
"The Leopard of Ti Morne" MARK KURLANSKY (Gonaives)
"The Blue Hill" RODNEY SAINT-ELOI (Ozanana)