Edwidge Danticat

Novelist, short story writer, memoirist · United States · On the map · Writers · Born 1969 · age 57

Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or edited several books and has been the recipient of many awards and honors.

Edwidge Danticat is read about 117 times a day, in 27 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2020Vilcek PrizeAward2019“The person she'd been when the three of them, she and her husband and her son, had gotten on that boat and left Haiti-that person was also lost at sea.”In their wordsEverything Inside (2019), in theRead the whole statement

National Book Critics Circle Award for FictionAward2018“In some of the earlier work, I liked to keep readers guessing: one story asked a question, and another resolved it.”In their wordsOn how her short story writing style has evolved in “An Interview | Edwidge Danticat” in The Brooklyn Review (Fall 2018)Read the whole statement

Neustadt International Prize for LiteratureAward2017“I am from a place, Haiti, that constantly evokes nostalgia in the people who have seen it, lived in it, and loved it “before”...The blessings of our islands are also our curse.”In their words6 November 2017"Dawn After the Tempests"Read the whole statement

“most of my tourism is done through books.”In their words6 November 2017"Dawn After the Tempests"Read the whole statement

2014“Create Dangerously was about giving myself permission. There are people who come into writing emboldened and formed. I wasn't like that. I had to give myself permission.”In their words2014 interview included in Conversations with Edwidge Danticat edited by Maxine Lavon Montgomery (2017)Read the whole statement

2013“This day, more than any other, should remind us that everyone seeking asylum deserves to be treated humanely.”In their words20 June 2013"World Refugee Day"Read the whole statement

2011Langston Hughes MedalAward2009MacArthur Fellows ProgramAward2008National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir and AutobiographyAward2006Great Immigrants AwardAward2005Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardsAward2004The Story PrizeAward1999American Book AwardsAwardPrix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-MondeAward1969Born19 January 1969

People around Edwidge

Close ties

Media & music

Photos 2

Danticat in 2019

In their own words 4

Edwidge Danticat

4 statements, newest first

It comes on again on her grandson's christening day. A lost moment, a blank spot, one that Carole does not know how to measure. She is there one second, then she is not.
2019 · Everything Inside (2019), first lines of "Sunrise, Sunset", Own words
Well, I think that when I’m writing about Haiti, I’m just writing one long, ongoing story.
2018 · On how she views Haiti since a major earthquake in in “An Interview | Edwidge Danticat” in The Brooklyn Review (Fall 2018), Own words
First novels are a lot like first children. You lavish all your love and attention on them, but you also make all your rookie mistakes on them.
2015 · Afterword to 2015 edition of Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), Own words

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Awards

Vilcek Prize2020

National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction2019

Neustadt International Prize for Literature2018

Langston Hughes Medal2011

MacArthur Fellows Program2009

National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir and Autobiography2008

Great Immigrants Award2006

Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards2005

The Story Prize2004

American Book Awards1999

Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde1999

About this person

Her work has dealt with themes of national identity, mother-daughter relationships, and diasporic politics. In 2023, she was named the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University.

Country

United States

Where to find them

IMDb Websiteedwidgedanticat.com

In the same film or series as Edwidge

Patricia BenoitAlso in Stones in the Sun (2014)

Marin IrelandAlso in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Writers from the United States 1

Bill Bryson58.7 of 100