Overview
ReadCaribbean brings Haitian authors, journalists and cultural voices to downtown Miami Nov. 21–22 for a weekend of conversations about family, memory, spirituality and who tells Haiti’s story. Part of the 43rd Miami Book Fair, the program gives South Florida readers a chance to meet writers and hear discussions in English and Haitian Creole, with interpretation at the three Haiti-focused Sunday panels.
MIAMI — What do Haitian families carry with them when they leave home? How do spiritual traditions shape the way Haitians remember their ancestors? And who decides which stories about Haiti reach the public? Those questions will guide three panels on Sunday, Nov. 22, as the Miami Book Fair’s ReadCaribbean program brings Haitian writers, journalists and cultural practitioners together at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus.
Miami Dade College presents the 43rd Miami Book Fair from Nov. 15–22, with the Street Fair taking place Nov. 20–22. The college expects nearly 500 authors to participate in the eight-day festival. ReadCaribbean, the fair’s program dedicated to Caribbean literature and the diaspora, will hold its panels Nov. 21–22 with sponsorship from the Green Family Foundation and in partnership with Villa Albertine. The foundation also helped establish ReadCaribbean alongside the fair and the Haitian cultural organization Sosyete Koukouy.
For South Florida’s Haitian community, the fair offers a chance for generations to encounter the same stories from different vantage points. Parents and grandparents may recognize the language and traditions they grew up with. Younger readers may recognize the experience of growing up between cultures. Holding discussions in Haitian Creole and providing English interpretation gives families a way to share those conversations, even when they are most comfortable in different languages.
Haitian writers in conversation with the Caribbean
On Saturday, Nov. 21, at 11 a.m., Haitian American author Edwidge Danticat will discuss Dèy in a conversation about grief and memory alongside Carol Mitchell, Kwame Dawes and Donna Aza Weir-Soley. Kelly Baker Josephs will moderate. At 3 p.m., Samarra St. Hilaire joins Naima Coster and Mervyn Taylor for a panel moderated by Nadine Pinede. St. Hilaire’s Brushed Between Cultures follows a Haitian American teenager in Brooklyn whose artistic ambitions complicate her family’s hopes for her future.
Three Haiti-focused panels on Sunday
11 a.m. — What We Carry: Family, Memory, History & Haiti. In I Shall Find You, Micki Berthelot Morency follows the consequences of a Haitian mother’s separation from her newborn daughter. Dimitry Elias Léger brings Death of the Soccer God, a novel that follows a footballer from Port-au-Prince to New York and the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Michael Deibert explores Haiti’s first century of independence and its relationship with the United States. Novelist Fabienne Josaphat moderates the discussion in English, with Haitian Creole interpretation.
1 p.m. — Beyond the Veil: Haitian Spirituality, Dreams & Messages From the Unseen. Gina Boyer, Jean-Claude Fanfan and Manbo Zila Nzingha Nandi will discuss dreams, beliefs about the afterlife and ancestral traditions, including the role of those traditions in Haitian Vodou. Author Carole Arty Démesmin moderates in Haitian Creole, with English interpretation.
3 p.m. — Ayiti Nan Nouvèl: Who Gets to Tell Our Story? Journalists Jacqueline Charles, Patrick Eliancy and Pierre Gerson Joseph bring perspectives from international reporting, Haitian television and community radio. With James Pierre moderating, the panel will examine how reporters verify information amid online rumors and AI-generated content, and how they cover a crisis while still reporting on everyday life in Haiti. The discussion will be in Haitian Creole, with English interpretation.
If you go
The three Sunday panels are listed as free and scheduled for Room 8302, on the third floor of Building 8 at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., downtown Miami.
