Frankétienne

Frankétienne (born Franck Étienne on April 12, 1936 in Ravine-Sèche, Haiti) is a Haitian writer, poet, playwright, painter, musician, activist and intellectual.[1][2] He is recognized as one of Haiti's leading writers and playwrights of both French and Haitian Creole,[3] and is "known as the father of Haitian letters".[4] As a painter, he is known for his colorful abstract works, often emphasizing the colors blue and red. He was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009, made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres (Order of the Arts and Letters), and was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2010.[1][5]

Frankétienne
Born (1936-04-12) April 12, 1936
Ravine-Sèche, Haiti
OccupationWriter, poet, playwright, painter, musician
Notable awardsCommander 'Ordre des Arts et Lettres' (2010)

Early life

Frankétienne was born in Ravine-Sèche, a small village in Haiti. He was abandoned by his father, a rich American industrialist,[2][4] at a young age and was raised by his mother in the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where she worked as a street merchant to support her eight children, managing to send him, who was the eldest, to school.[2]

Selected works
Untitled Frankétienne painting, oil on canvas

References
  1. "Frankétienne". Poetry Translation Centre. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  2. Glover, Kaiama. "Francketienne" (PDF). Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  3. Douglas, Rachel (June 16, 2009). Frankétienne and Rewriting: A Work in Progress. ISBN 9780739136355. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  4. Archibold, Randal C. "A Prolific Father of Haitian Letters, Busier Than Ever". The New York Times. p. A5. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  5. "Haitian writer Frankétienne named UNESCO Artist for Peace". United Nations.
  6. P. Schutt-Ainé, Haiti: A Basic Reference Book, 103

Further reading
  • Douglas, Rachel. Frankétienne and Rewriting: A Work in Progress. New York: Lexington Books, 2009.
  • Glover, Kaiama L. Haiti Unbound: A Spiralist Challenge to the Post-Colonial Canon. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2010.
  • Jonassaint, Jean. "Frankétienne, Écrivain haïtien," Dérives 53/54 (1987)
  • Schutt-Ainé, Patricia; Staff of Librairie Au Service de la Culture (1994). Haiti: A Basic Reference Book. Miami, Florida: Librairie Au Service de la Culture. p. 103. ISBN 0-9638599-0-0.


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