There’s something about the writing of Maureen Boyer that gives you this persistent gut feeling that she has a novel within her that can pour out on a Word document—with some light pinching. Maybe there is. She’s already written a children’s book, Where is Lola?—so that’s more than a start.

Growing up in New York, Boyer was raised in an incredibly artistic environment. There was her musician dad, a craft-friendly mom, and a fine arts-schooled stepmom. It wasn’t until Boyer started writing, that the idea of pursuing the arts occurred to her. Like many scribes before her, she fell in love with words, and with writing.

After living for much of her existence in the USA, the Brooklyn transplant moved to Haiti in late 2009, and lives with her cousin Pete and two dogs Tchoko and Tchino. Haiti is a little island she left when she was twelve, but she’s doing her best to connect the lost years. Where is Lola ?—a story about a little girl’s search for her lost pet—seems to be an apt metaphor for the author’s own identity search.

Kreyolicious: At one point, did you imagine that you would one day be the author of a children’s book?

No actually! I love children, but I never imagined myself writing a children’s book. But when this opportunity presented itself from One Moore Book, I had to do it. I had a chance to demonstrate my version of Haiti through a colorful manner. And I’m so grateful that Wayétu Moore gave me this opportunity.

Kreyolicious: Did you have a say with the illustrations?

I had an idea of what I wanted, but I was more excited about what images my word conveyed to another person and I feel like Kula Moore did an even better job than I could have imagined.

Kreyolicious: Sometimes when people think of children’s books, they think they’re easy to put together. But they probably can be just as much as putting together a Tolstoy. What was the process like for you?

Writing for children is definitely not an easy task. What I had to do was bring out my inner child. As a child, I loved reading—so I tried to imagine what I would have liked to see in a book, what would stimulate me. And you also have to make sure that you use the right words and to make your lines as simple and to the point as possible and that can be hard, especially since I like using metaphors in my writing.

Kreyolicious: The plot and concept for the book came easily to you?

In a way yes, at that time I had a dog named Lola and I was just falling in love with Haiti as a landscape, so the book represents my life and my state of mind at the time.

Kreyolicious: What do you think can be done to encourage kids to read more?

I’m guessing it starts at home. I don’t have children, but I’ve been a teacher for the past year-and-a-half and I noticed that kids whose parents read to them or whose parents read we’re more likely to read. I guess it’s instilling at an early age that words aren’t the enemy.

Kreyolicious: How soon can your fans expect another book from you, children’s books or otherwise?

That, I am not sure! I’m writing this book about a woman finding herself while experiencing the highs and lows of living in Haiti. However, I feel like I’m still not certain about the direction of the book because I feel like I’m sort of living that story, but I’m hoping to have a draft of it in a year. Then who knows….

|CLICK HERE to purchase Where Is Lola? | Visit the author’s blog by CLICKING HERE.
¬¬

He was an officer in the Haitian Army under Alexandre Pétion against Henri Christophe. He was declared President of Haiti on 4 April 1843 and forced from office by revolutionaries on 3 May 1844.
Hérard was chief among the conspirators who ousted President Jean-Pierre Boyer during the 1843 Revolution. Soon afterward, General Hérard, who had the loyalty of the army, seized control of the government and declared himself President of Haiti.
–
Il était officier dans l’armée haïtienne sous Alexandre Pétion contre Henri Christophe. Il a été déclaré président d’Haïti le 4 avril 1843. Les révolutionnaires l’ont démis de ses fonctions le 3 mai 1844.
Hérard était le principal des conspirateurs qui ont destitué le président Jean-Pierre Boyer lors de la révolution de 1843. Peu après, le général Hérard, fidèle à l’armée, prend le contrôle du gouvernement et se déclare président d’Haïti.
–
Li te yon ofisye nan lame ayisyen anba Alexandre Pétion pandan li te kont Henri Christophe. Li te deklare Prezidan an Ayiti sou 4 avril 1843. Revolisyonè yo te fòse li kite pouvwa a 3 me 1844.
Hérard te chèf nan mitan konspiratè yo ki te ranvèse Prezidan Jean-Pierre Boyer pandan Revolisyon 1843 la. Yon ti tan apre sa, Jeneral Hérard, ki te lwayote lame a, te pran kontwòl gouvènman an epi li te deklare tèt li Prezidan an Ayiti.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#haiti #hayti #ayiti #charlesherard #henrichristope #jeanpierreboyer #boyer #haitianrevolution #presidentofhaiti #alexandrepetion #revolution #army #haitianarmy #1843 #generalherard #general #chief #army #selfproclaimed #presidentavie #dominicanrepublic #haitians #government #pouvoir #power #caribbean #westindies

In 1818 Pétion replaced Boyer as the 2nd President of the Republic of Haiti. Pétion had selected Boyer as his successor as a measure to protect the nation from foreign intrusion.
–
Président Boyer was confronted with Henri Christophe in the north. Christophe’s rule created unrest in the Kingdom. After his soldiers rebelled against him in 1820, in failing health and fearing assassination, Christophe committed suicide. Boyer easily reunited Haiti.
–
Born in Port-au-Prince, he was the mulatto son of a French tailor and a former slave from Congo. He was sent to France to become educated. During the French Revolution, he fought as a battalion commander, and against Toussaint Louverture in the early years of the Haitian Revolution.
–
After the uprising of African slaves in the north of Saint-Domingue in 1791, Boyer joined the French and fought against the grand blancs (plantation owners) and royalists. In 1794, Saint-Domingue was invaded by the British trying to capitalize on the unrest in the formerly wealthy colony. Boyer went to Jacmel, and joined mulatto leader, General Rigaud. While other mulatto leaders surrendered to Louverture in south, Boyer escaped to France with Rigaud and Pétion.
–
Next, he returned to Haiti to protest the independence that Louverture had just achieved. By early 1802, Rigaud and other leaders learned that the French intended to take away the civil rights of mulattoes and re-institute slavery in Saint-Domingue (as they had managed to do in Guadeloupe.) They sent General LeClerc to defeat the rebels, and Boyer collaborated with other native leaders to defeat the French but most had died as a result of yellow fever.
–
Boyer’s rule lasted until 1843, the poor economic situation was worsened by an earthquake. The majority rural population rose up under President Hérard. On 13 Feb. 1843, Boyer fled to Jamaica. He eventually settled in exile in France, and died in Paris in 1850.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#haiti #hayti #ayiti #boyer #president #petion #christophe #congo #kongo #france #revolution #haitians #african #republic #republique #royalist #britain #slaves #slavery #jamaica #frenchrevolution #haitianrevolution #revolutionfrancaise

After the death of André Rigaud on September 18th 1811, who ruled the department from November 3rd 1810, for a limited time, Jérôme Maximilien Borgella succeeded him as President of the council of the Department of the South (21 Sep 1811 – 20 Mar 1812). He was elected by the departmental assembly as General-in-Chief of the Army of the South and as President of the council. General Borgella then gave in his adherence to Président of the Republic of Haiti (South of Haiti), Alexandre Pétion (1807-1818), consequently, there was a re-incorporation of the Department of the South to the rest of the Republic.
Président Jean-Pierre Boyer, who was president of a reunited Haiti in 1820 (1818-1843) and also annexed the newly independent Spanish Haiti (Santo Domingo), gave him important tasks and instructions. General Borgella will be loyal to him til his death on March 30 1844, in the city of Port-au-Prince.
–
Source: Wikipedia / Stella:Novel of the Haitian Revolution / Worldstatemen.org
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#haiti #hayti #ayiti #borgella #lescayes #boyer #petion #revolution #1804 #istwa1804 #istwa #haitians #rigaud #president #sud #republique #1811 #1812 #okay #auxcayes #hispaniola #map #carte #flag #drapo

After the death of her spouse King Henry I in 1820, she remained with her daughters at the palace until their departure, the palace was attacked. She was visited by president Jean Pierre Boyer, who offered her his protection. They were allowed to settle in Port-au-Prince. Marie-Louise was described as calm and resigned, but her daughters, especially Athenais, were described as vengeful.
–
The Queen went into exile for 30 years. In Aug. 1821, the former queen left Haiti with her daughters under the protection of the British admiral Sir Home Popham, and travelled to London. There were rumours that she was searching for the money, three million, deposited by her spouse in Europe. She lived the rest of her life without economic difficulties.
–
She lived discreetly with her daughters in Pisa in Italy. They made a grand visit to Rome in 1828. Shortly before her death, she was allowed to return to Haiti. However, she never did and she died in Italy on March 14th 1851 at 72 years old, conflicting sources say she died on the 11th.
–
The Queen and her daughters rest in the same burial place.
–
Photos: NOFI
Source:Journal of Haitian Studies, Wikipedia
.
.
.
.
#coidavid #henrichristophe #marielouisecoidavid #1851 #italy #pisa #exiled #exile #queenofhaiti #queen #haiti #ayiti #history #istwa1804 #henry #boyer #overthrown #revolution #kingofhaiti

Pure mulatto, son of a rich planter and a black woman. He was educated in Bordeaux. but was always inclined towards the army. –
Narrow-minded, he never succeeded either in stifling the feelings of prejudice against black Haitians, whom he did not forgive, or against the whites for having the same feeling towards him and towards his social class based off his race. –
About him Madiou said: “He was very dark with crinkly hair. He always wore a wig of smooth hair.” Perhaps, it is true, the smooth-haired wig was connected with his immoderate love of pleasure.
–
By 1796, “Rigaud was virtually dictator” in the south. No black soldiers rose above the rank of captain in his army.
–
Increasingly, Rigaud became jealous of Toussaint’s successes and recognition. Seemingly unable to stop himself, he began turning every victory into defeat. After badly losing a final virulent set of conflicts beginning with ‘the war of the knife’. Rigaud was ordered back to France. –
After a 5 months siege of Jacmel, Petion fled at night but some of his soldiers were caught and killed.
–
Later that year, in July 1800, Rigaud fled the island and tried to go to France, when more problems were awaiting him… .
.
.
#rigaud #toussaintlouverture #louverture #petion #blackpanther #petion #boyer #mulatto #coloredmen #hedouville #france #haiti #ayiti #1804 #jacmel #1800

Born free in 1780 to a free black prominent man in the North of St-Domingue, he was a career officer and general in the Haitian Army.
His father was a sergeant in the colonial militia and probably served in the rebel forces. Riché himself joined the Haitian Revolutionaries (around 1801). After Haiti gained independence, Riché joined the forces of Henri Christophe, and later promoted him to the rank of general and deputy commander of his army. Riché was instrumental in Christophe’s victory at the Battle of Siebert. During the siege of Port-au-Prince in 1811, Riché commanded the left wing of Christophe’s army. He quickly became one of Christophe’s most trusted commanders, and as a consequence he was placed in command of Haïti’s Northern Province, where he was effective in subduing the mulatto population.

After Christophe’s downfall in 1820, Riché supported the new government and was therefore able to retain his post during the administration of Jean-Pierre Boyer, and those that followed. This continued until Jean-Louis Pierrot became President of Haïti in 1845. Pierrot attempted to reform the Haitian government, causing the Boyerist hierarchy of Haiti to sponsor a rebellion in the provinces of Port-au-Prince and Artibonite in 1846. The rebel army under mulatto control proclaimed Riché president of Haiti on March 1, 1846. After much of the Haitian army sided with the rebels, President Pierrot relinquished his office on March 24, 1846. After gaining the presidency of Haiti, one of Riché’s first acts was to restore the Constitution of 1816.

As president, Riché was considered a failure by his Boyerist backers. He soon proposed reforms similar to those espoused by former President Pierrot. Probably as a result of these proposals he died on February 27, 1847, possibly from being poisoned, although this has never been established. Riché’s presidency opened the way for considerable changes in the political landscape of Haiti during the succeeding administrations.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#haiti #ayiti #riché #riche #1846 #haitianrevolution #haitian #revolution #artibonite #latibonit #poison #pierrot #boyer #siebert #constitution #saintdomingue #hayti #henrichristophe #christophe

The group of Dominican independence fighters was Called “La Trinitaria” (“The Trinity”), this organization was composed of Spanish Creoles, mulattoes, and blacks, they were led by Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella. Independence was proclaimed in the city of Santo Domingo on 27 February 1844, but on the following day a group of ex-slaves led by Santiago Basora, announced its opposition to the independentists. These men suspected that the rebels intended to reintroduce slavery; if this was true, the blacks were ready to fight alongside the Haitians. Trinitaria leaders realized the explosive nature of this situation and moved rapidly to defuse it. The very next day, 28 February provisional President Tomás Bobadilla and Vice-President Manuel Jimenes conferred with Basora and his supporters, and on the following day slavery was again declared abolished. The war to expel Haiti from Dominican soil was a great success: This was the last time ever Haiti would dominate the Dominican nation.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#haiti #hayti #dr #independence #dominican #santodomingo #latrinitaria #spanish #mulatto #black #blacks #criollo #slavery #1844 #1804 #1822 #sanchez #fighters #ayiti #duarte #mella #reforma #lareforma #boyer #caceres