Member Awarded MacArthur Foundation's "Genius Grant"
Will use award to shine a light on native Haiti
Edwidge Danticat, a novelist and short story writer, who has used her talent to make the world aware of the struggles facing her native Haiti and its citizens, was awarded a "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She joins 23 others, including artists, scientists and journalists, in being presented the award, which comes with a $500,000 grant over the next five years. The Foundation allows the recipients to do whatever they wish with the grant.
Danticat has devoted her life to chronicling the stories of the talented Haitians who have no outlets to express their talents. She has also written extensively on the struggles that migrants face daily.
In announcing the award, the Foundation described her as a "novelist chronicling the power of human resistance and endurance through moving and insightful depictions of the Haitian immigrant experience."
Danticat has wowed the literary world with her depictions of her native country, with its struggles, challenges and possibilities.
Among her works are the memoir, Brother, I'm Dying, Krick? Krack! and The Farming of Bones—a retelling of the 1937 massacre of thousands of Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic.
Her novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory propelled her to instant fame because it was an Oprah's Book Club pick.
She has also worked with a number of high-profile filmmakers on documentaries focusing on Haiti. Her work has also been featured in magazines and anthologies.
She's won numerous awards, prizes and grants for her literary excellence, including the National Book Critics Circle Awards, the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest grant and the American Book Award.
Danticat, who is an instructor of creative writing at the University of Miami, says she will use the award to teach, write and work on another novel.
She earned a master's degree at Brown University in Providence, RI and was initiated in Theta Psi Omega Chapter, in Providence.