Lyonel Trouillot (born 31 December 1956, in

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 ...

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

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

in 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 ...

, a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and a professor of French and Creole literature in Port-au-Prince.

Early life

Lyonel Trouillot was born in a family of lawyers. The writer

Évelyne Trouillot Évelyne Trouillot (born January 2, 1954) is a Haitian author, writing in French and Creole. Biography Évelyne Trouillot was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 2, 1954. She was the daughter of Ernst Trouillot and Anne-Marie Morisset. After c ...

and the writer and educator Jocelyne Trouillot are his sisters. 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. Between 1980 and 1982, political repression forced Trouillot to emigrate to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. He studied at law, but he switched to literature early in his career.

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 Joseph Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne (April 14, 1948 – December 10, 2017) was a Haitian political folk singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist, political activist and politician. He recorded his political chansons in both French and in Creole ...

. 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. In 2014 he wrote together with

Raoul Peck Raoul Peck (born 9 September 1953 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is a Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films. He is known for using historical, political, and personal characters to tackle and recount societal issues and historical ...

and

Pascal Bonitzer Pascal Bonitzer (; born 1 February 1946) is a French screenwriter, film director, actor, and former film critic for '' Cahiers du cinéma''. He has written for 48 films and has appeared in 30 films since 1967. He starred in Raúl Ruiz's 1978 fi ...

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 Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in ...

. He was a member of the unelected transitional government following the departure of Aristide, as a cabinet minister of culture. 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" 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, * ''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 Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, 2012.

Awards and recognition

Trouillot was made a

Chevalier des Arts et des 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 ...

in 2010. In 2011, he was awarded the

Prix Wepler The prix Wepler is a French literary award established in 1998 at the initiative of the Abbesses Bookshop, with the support of the La Poste Foundation, and the Brasserie Wepler (Place Clichy, 18th arrondissement of Paris) and which distinguishes, ...

for his novel ''Yanvalou pour Charlie''. For ''La Belle Amour humane'', he was awarded the

Grand Prix du Roman Métis The Grand prix du roman métis is a French literary award established in 2010 by the city of Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion. Jury The jury comes from the book world and includes the winners of the previous year’s award. List of winners Gr ...

(2011), the Geneva Book Fair Literary Prize (2012), and the

Gitanjali Literary Prize The Gitanjali Literary Prize is a Franco-Indian literary award established in 2012. It was founded by the Mohsen Hachtroudi Foundation and CHG Earth Group (a hotel company in India). A Francophone author and an Indian author each receive a prize w ...

(2012). In 2013, he was awarded the

Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde The Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde (or, the Prix Carbet of the Caribbean and Tout-Monde) is an annual award given to the best literary work in French or French Creole from the Caribbean and the Americas. History The Prix Carbet ...

for his work, ''Parabole du failli''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trouillot, Lyonel 1956 births Living people Haitian male novelists Haitian male poets Haitian writers in French Haitian Creole-language writers International Writing Program alumni 20th-century Haitian novelists 20th-century Haitian poets 21st-century Haitian novelists 21st-century Haitian poets Prix Louis Guilloux winners 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers

Lyonel Lyonel is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Charles Feininger (July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and ...