"Haiti Really Haunts and Fascinates Me"

Edwidge Danticat comes to the Free Library this week to promote her new book and field the inevitable questions about her Caribbean homeland.

By Sara Kelly
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Mar. 24, 2004

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Would you call this a political book?

"I think it's a political book because it talks very openly about some very political things. Is it making a political statement? Perhaps. I would call it a political book, yes. But it's not meant to be a tract."

Do you feel obligated to write about Haiti?

"That's what interests me. Haiti interests me. Haiti really haunts and fascinates me. But it adds another painful layer when the things you're writing have these parallels in life."

Do you think you'll ever write about something not related to Haiti or your past experience there?

"I think it's possible, but I don't see it right now. When I'm done with one book, I always think, 'This is it. I'm done.' Just because I feel drained when I finish. I just feel like I've given it all."

Will current events dictate what you write next?

"For the immediate future, yeah, I think so. Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, it gives me a way to process what's happening."

�

Edwidge Danticat will read from The Dew Breaker Thurs., March 25, 7pm. Free. Free Library, 1901 Vine St. 215.686.5322. www.library.phila.gov

Editor's note: Sara Kelly (skelly@philadelphia weekly.com) and Edwidge Danticat were classmates in the fiction M.F.A. program at Brown.

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