The 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed some 300,000 people and caused widespread destruction; it also revealed flaws in the impoverished nation’s infrastructure that will take a generation from which to recover. Award-winning writer Dany Laferrière was there when the earthquake hit; this book documents the day of, and the days and weeks following, the tragedy: vignettes of the shock, rage, and grief experienced by Haitians, the acts of heroism he witnessed, and the author’s own sense of survivor guilt.

The earthquake continues to take its toll; many survivors remain in refugee camps, and buildings and houses have yet to be rebuilt. A 2012 Oxfam report stated that half a million Haitians are still homeless.

The primary book category should be “literary travel”; secondary categories are “history (Caribbean)” and “biography & autobiography (personal memoir). ”

Laferrière is an acclaimed Haitian-born writer who left the country in 1976 after the murder of his friend, a leading journalist, during the corrupt and violent rule of Haitian dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier. He moved to Montreal where he has published fourteen novels in French, most of which have been translated into English.

Introduction by Michaelle Jean, former Governor General of Canada who is from Haiti.

© 2012 Arsenal Pulp Press (E-bok): 9781551524993

Översättare: David Homel

Utgivningsdatum

E-bok: 7 december 2012