Maurice Alfrédo Sixto (May 23, 1919, Gonaïves,

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 ...

– May 12, 1984,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, USA) was a pioneer of a Haitian oral literary genre known as Lodyans, and distributed his works widely through the audio technology of his time, including LP's and cassettes . To this day Sixto remains the best known author in the genre. He was also a professor, ambassador, translator, and tour guide. The son of an engineer, Maurice Alfredo Sixto and Maria Bourand, he attended St Louis de Gonzague in Port-au-Prince for his secondary studies. Upon graduation he attended ''l'Academie Militaire'' where he remained for only three months. He eventually studied law at the ''Faculte de Droit'' from 1945–1948 while working for Radio HHBM (now MBC). Sixto is remembered in Haitian culture for his contributions to oral literature. His ability to use rich, descriptive, and iconic

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 ...

idioms and expressions create a narrative that displays the true face of Haitian culture. Sixto prefaces every story with ''Regards sur choses et gens entendu'' (Regarding Things Seen and People Heard). In 2018, Sixto, his work and legacy were the subject of an academic colloquium in Port-au-Prince. Sixto's influences in the Lodyans genre include Justin Lhérisson while his successors include Charlot Lucien.

Published work

* Volume I: Lea Kokoyé; Madan Ròròl * Volume II: Zabèlbòk Berachat; Bòs Chaleran * Volume III: Ti Sentaniz; Madan Senvilus; Lòk Tama; Pè Tanmba * Volume IV: Gwo Moso; Ti Kam; Tant Mezi; Ronma lan ekspò; Priyè devan katedral * Volume V: J'ai vengé la race; Dépestre; Le corallin du Célibataire; Les ambassadeurs à Kinshasa * Volume VI: Madan Jul; Ton chal; L'homme citron; Men yon lòt lang; Pleyonas; Téofil; Le jeune agronome; Général Ti Kòk; La petite veste de galerie de Papa
Leya Kokoye ak lòt lodyans
Presses Nationales D'Haiti, 2005. Today, the ''Foyer Maurice Sixto'', honors his work and social commentary found in ''Ti Sentanize'', where Sixto derides his fellow bourgeosie countrymen for their abuse and forced labor of domestic children servants also referred to as Restavecs.

References

External links

Fondation Maurice SixtoHaiti's hidden 'child slaves'

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

At a glance: Haiti

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sixto Maurice 1919 births 1984 deaths Haitian male short story writers Haitian short story writers Haitian male novelists Tour guides 20th-century Haitian novelists 20th-century male writers