Edwidge Danticat

Kasia Mika (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies); Revised By: Eliana Vagalau (Loyola University of Chicago)

Ed. by Antonia Wimbush, University of Melbourne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 4.1.2: Francophone Writing and Culture of Central America and the Caribbean.
Vol. editors: Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Maeve McCusker (Queen's University Belfast), Bonnie Thomas (University of Western Australia), Antonia Wimbush (University of Melbourne)

Dates

Born 19 Jan 1969
Activity 1993-ongoing

Places

Born in Haiti
Active in Haiti; United States

Cultural Identities

Caribbean/ Antillean French

Activities

Primary

Editor
Novelist

Other

Film Director
Teacher/ Professor

Resources

Edwidge Danticat is an award-winning Haitian American writer best known for Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), Brother, I’m Dying (2007), Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work (2010), and Claire of Sea Light (2013). She is an author of acclaimed novels, books for young adults, children’s stories, collections of non-fiction writing, as well as the editor of anthologies of poetry and of noir short stories. She has also collaborated on documentary film projects and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Times.

Danticat was born on 19th January 1969 in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. She comes from a lower-class background with strong provincial and peasant roots and has experienced a life of economic hardship and family separation. In an attempt to provide a better future for their children and fleeing...

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Citation: Mika, Kasia, Eliana Vagalau. "Edwidge Danticat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 August 2016; last revised 02 October 2025. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5862, accessed 14 December 2025.]

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