Frankétienne (born Franck Étienne on April 12, 1936, in

Ravine-Sèche Ravine-Sèche, is a village in Haiti of the Saint-Marc Arrondissement in Artibonite department. It is the birthplace of notable writer and artist, Frankétienne Frankétienne (born Franck Étienne on April 12, 1936, in Ravine-Sèche, Hait ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

) is a Haitian writer, poet, playwright, painter, musician, activist and intellectual. He is recognized as one of Haiti's leading writers and playwrights of both French and

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

, and is "known as the father of Haitian letters". As a painter, he is known for his colorful abstract works, often emphasizing the colors blue and red. He was a candidate for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

in 2009, made a Commander of the ''

Ordre des Arts et Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

'' (Order of the Arts and Letters), and was named

UNESCO Artist for Peace UNESCO Artists for Peace are international celebrity advocates for the United Nations agency UNESCO. This category of advocate is intended to heighten public awareness in addition to the categories UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador UNESCO Goodwill Amba ...

in 2010.

Early life

Frankétienne was born in

, a small village in Haiti. He was abandoned by his father, a rich American industrialist, at a young age and was raised by his mother in the Bel Air neighborhood of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, where she was a respected entrepreneur, owning her own business to support her eight children, managing to send him, who was the eldest, to school.

Selected works

* ''Au Fil du Temps'', a compilation of poems * ''Ultravocal'', a novel * ''Pèlin Tèt'', a play written in

* ''

Dézafi ''Dézafi'' by Frankétienne is the first novel to be written and published in Haitian Creole. Released in 1975, it has since been translated into both English language, English and French language, FrenchJonassaint, Jean (2018). ''Dézafi (After ...

'', a novel about life during under the Duvalier regime, the first ever in Haitian CreoleP. Schutt-Ainé, ''Haiti: A Basic Reference Book'', 103 * ''Mûr à Crever'', a novel * ''Les Affres d'un Défi'', a novel * ''

Désastre (12 janvier 2010) ''Désastre (12 janvier 2010)'' is an artwork of Haitian artist Frankétienne Frankétienne (born Franck Étienne on April 12, 1936, in Ravine-Sèche, Haiti) is a Haitian writer, poet, playwright, painter, musician, activist and intellect ...

'', painting * ''

Difficile émergence vers la lumière ''Difficile émergence vers la lumière'' (''Difficult emergence into the Light'') is an artwork by Haitian artist Frankétienne created on 2011, and represents the victims of the Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating stor ...

'', painting

References

External links

Frankétienne
author profile on Prince Claus Foundation site
Île en île: Frankétienne
author file (in French), with biography, bibliography, and audio

Early life

Selected works

References

External links

Further reading