Lyonel Trouillot

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lyonel Trouillot
Lyonel Trouillot at a live broadcast from the Paris Book Fair, March 2010.
Lyonel Trouillot at a live broadcast from the Paris Book Fair, March 2010.
Born (1956-12-31) 31 December 1956 (age 67)
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
LanguageFrench, Haitian Creole
Genrenovels, poetry, song lyrics
Notable awardsPrix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde (2013)

Lyonel Trouillot (born 31 December 1956, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is a novelist and poet in French and Haitian Creole, a journalist and a professor of French and Creole literature in Port-au-Prince.

Early life

Lyonel Trouillot was born into a family of lawyers.[1] The writer Évelyne Trouillot and the writer and educator Jocelyne Trouillot are his sisters.[2][3] Following his parents' divorce in the late 1960s, he went to the United States with his mother. He returned to Haiti at age 19, in 1975.[4]

Between 1980 and 1982, political repression forced Trouillot to emigrate to Miami.[1]

He studied law, but he switched to literature early in his career.[1]

Career

Trouillot has contributed to different newspapers and magazines in Haiti. He has published poetry, and also writes song lyrics for such musical artists as Tambou Libète and Manno Charlemagne.

Trouillot is a co-editor of the journal Cahiers du Vendredi.

Along with his sister Evelyne Trouillot and her daughter Nadève Ménard, he founded a writer's organisation named Pré-Texte.[2]

In 2014 he wrote, together with Raoul Peck and Pascal Bonitzer, the script for Peck's feature film Murder in Pacot.

Politics

Trouillot is known for his political stances, and for his resistance to the Haitian Duvalierist dictatorship. He was also part of the Collective Non of intellectuals and artists that helped to build momentum for the U.S. and paramilitary-backed ouster of the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was a member of the unelected transitional government following the departure of Aristide, as a cabinet minister of culture.[1] The unelected transitional government of Gerard Latortue (that Trouillot was a member of between 2004 and 2006) was shown to be involved in massive human rights violations and to work closely with the "families" of the local elite groups within the country while being heavily funded by the US Bush regime: http://www.ijdh.org/CSHRhaitireport.pdf

Select bibliography

Novels

  • Rue des pas perdus, Mémoire, Port-au-Prince, 1996
  • Thérèse en mille morceaux, Actes Sud, Arles, 2000
  • Les Enfants des héros, Actes Sud, Arles, 2002
  • Bicentenaire, Actes Sud, Arles, 2004
  • L'Amour avant que j'oublie, Actes Sud, Arles, 2007
  • Yanvalou pour Charlie, Actes Sud, Arles, 2009
    • dt. Yanvalou für Charlie, 2016, Traduction Barbara Heber-Schärer, Claudia Steinitz, Liebeskind Verlagsbuchhandlung, ISBN 978-3-95438-066-4
  • La Belle Amour humaine, Actes Sud, Arles, 2011
  • Le Doux Parfum des temps à venir, Actes Sud, Arles, 2013
  • Parabole du failli, Actes Sud, Arles, 2013

Poetry

  • Éloge de la contemplation, Riveneuve, Paris, 2009.

Non-fiction

  • Haïti le dur devoir d'exister, with Amélie Baron, Mémoire d'Encrier, Montréal, 2010.
  • Objectif : l'autre, André Versaille, Brussels, 2012.

Awards and recognition

Trouillot was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2010.

In 2011, he was awarded the Prix Wepler for his novel Yanvalou pour Charlie.[5] For La Belle Amour humane, he was awarded the Grand Prix du Roman Métis (2011),[6] the Geneva Book Fair Literary Prize (2012),[7] and the Gitanjali Literary Prize (2012).[8]

In 2013, he was awarded the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde for his work, Parabole du failli.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Olivia Marsaud (16 November 2009). "Lyonel Trouillot : " Il n'y a d'écriture que politique "". Jeune Afrique. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b Edwidge Danticat (2005). "Evelyne Trouillot". Bomb (90).
  3. ^ "Jocelyne Trouillot". Africultures (in French). 24 January 2016. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016.
  4. ^ "Lyonel Trouillot : Le bel ami humain". Arte TV. 14 April 2013.
  5. ^ Soazig Quéméner (17 January 2010). "On leur demande, foutre, de diriger!". Le Journal du Dimanche. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  6. ^ "Le Grand Prix du Roman Métis de la Ville de Saint-Denis" (in French). La Réunion des Livres. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Lyonel Trouillot, Prix du Salon du livre de Genève 2012" (in French). Diasporas Noires. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Le prix Gitanjali pour Lyonel Trouillot et Poomani". Le Magazine Litteraire (in French). 11 December 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  9. ^ Dieulermesson Petit Frere (18 December 2013). "Lyonel Trouillot, lauréat du Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe". Le Nouvelliste.