June 3: I met Dany Laferrière today! Well, only briefly as he autographed my book, but let me explain (Laferrière is an esteemed Haitian author who is based out of Montreal. I don't know a ton about Haitian literature but he is definitely my favorite). This afternoon Coutecheve and I went to livres en folie, Port-au-Prince's only book fair, and probably the only fair in existence exclusively for Haitian authors. The fair was hosted at La Canne a Sucre, a former plantation-turned- national park.. The ruins of the sugar mill lie scattered here and there, and the large water wheel is still turning. But it was difficult to regard the ruins since today the grounds were covered with tents and people lounging in the shade. Historians, novelists, children's book authors, linguists, and poets were making conversation and signing autographs. There were so many books to chose from that I ended up only getting one, L'engime du retour. Dany Laferrière was the guest of honor, and there was a small mob surging around his table, reaching out with books, cameras and audio recorders. He looked exhausted by the time I pushed my way up to the front at the end of the day. I gave him my name, he signed, drew a little tree, and wearily reached out for the next book. Hard work, being famous.
Luckily for me I had the opportunity to talk at length with other Haitian artists about what it means to make art in Haiti. Coutecheve's friends are a raucous group of poets, actors and painters, who come mostly from Carrefour, I think. Coutecheve and I met in New York when he came to read his poetry at CUNY. His friends drank and laughed and admiringly read each other's work out loud. Several among them already have published poetry collections. The poetry slam got so animated that one of the fair staff came to shut them down. Muscadin, a young rasta painter whose home was destroyed in the quake, told me that the art that he and his friends create is meant to denounce the the situation in Haiti. What exactly is the situation in Haiti, I asked. First of all, Haiti is occupied by the UN forces, MINSTAH, and they are doing whatever they want here without much concern for the wishes of the people. But ultimately, its a class struggle, but class here is defined by skin more than money. If you have light skin, you can get away with anything, and neither the government or the UN will do anything to stop you. If you are metis, you can get away with some stuff. If you have dark skin you better watch your back. I mentioned that I had been told that money trumped color, and that if a dark person had enough money that would be treated like a blan. Nope, it's not like that here. Money never trumps color. Black is black and white is white.
But the problem with making art in Haiti, according to Muscadin and co., is that there isn't much emphasis on culture here (I'm guessing by culture they mean fine art). Part of it a matter of illiteracy (only around 50% of the population is literate). But Coutecheve and friends have been trying to address this through popular theater: over the past few weeks they've been touring the refugee camps with a children's play meant to help people talk about the earthquake. Another one of his friends is working to put together a regular radio program that would feature poetry and literature (but talking about politics can only get you in trouble). But in general, if there is a cultural emphasis, it tends to focus on French and not Haitian culture. That's why this book fair was such an important event: it's difficult to find large collections of Haitian authors elsewhere, or even bookstores in general. Hopefully I'll be spending more time with these folks and I'll get a sense of how Haitian artists are organizing to address Haiti's devastating problems. How lucky am I?
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