This Sunday is going to be lived fabulously by Fleur de Vie and its founder-designer Dayanne Danier. She’s gathering the Haitian-American community from New York, and surrounding States to draw attention to her biggest cause: the education of children in Haiti.

Above: Fashion designer Dayanne Danier at an event for her organization Fleur de Vie.

Let’s have a discussion with the designer-philanthropist about this event!

Above: Kids in Haiti play at one of the many events planned by Fleur de Vie.

Kreyolicious: So, I think that the last time we talked about Fleur de Vie, it had just been launched. What has the organization been to since then?
That’s so true. Where did the time go? It’s been a little over three years, and yes, we have done so much since then. When we last spoke we had two schools in Port Au Prince and one after-school program in a province outside of Mirebalais. We were just focusing on one program which was the Back to School project. Now, we have added on another school in Port Au Prince and we connected with an organization in St. Marc. We have also started a new program called Reading is Fundamental, which focuses on literacy and teacher training.

Above: The gala being held by Fleur de Vie today, will raise funds for activities like this one.
Kreyolicious: Do you feel you have accomplished all your goals for Fleur de Vie?
DD: We wouldn’t go as far as saying we accomplished all our goals, we are still at the tip of the iceberg. There is still so much that needs to be done when it comes to social education. What we would say is that we are happy with what we have accomplished thus far and definitely committed to continuing. We have touched the lives of many students in Haiti. We are happy to say we haven’t done this alone, we have built great relationships with partners on the ground and our volunteers are more than just volunteers to us now. They are crucial members who strongly believe in our mission and want to see change in their country.

A sample of what attendees can expect at the Fleur de Vie gala at the Alliance Francaise in New York this afternoon.

Kreyolicious: You have an event coming up soon at the French Institute in New York. What has it been like putting this event together behind the scenes?
Yes. We have our La Palette Saisonniere De Chef food tasting fundraiser. This is the second year we are doing this, but on a larger scale. Our focus with this event was to bring the community in the Tri-State area together, and share the work we have been doing over the years. Of course, this is a fundraiser. At the same time, we wanted to do unique events that allow people to want to come out to support a great cause. So we brought together executive chefs, David Destinoble and Lucmann Pierre to create delicious [treats] for our guests. Culinary is a big part of the Haitian culture and sharing the talents of these chefs offers a different view of Haiti to the New York area. We are happy that Mikaben will join us for a performance and the Ambassador Paul Altidor is our special guest. So, there’s a lot of planning that goes into this. It can be a bit stressful. But still easier than planning an event for 600 students. [Winks] My team is great, and we have worked hard to make this a successful event. We are still selling tickets on the website!

Above: Singer Mikaben is scheduled to perform a set, his first appearance since signing with Warner Music France.

Support Fleur de Vie and its founder! The Fleur de Vie event will take place at the French Institute/Alliance Francaise today Sunday, Aug 21. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets and support this fund.

Fashion designer Dayanne Danier held a spectacular event at the French Institute of New York last night. Complete with delicious plates, wine tasting, and a performance from singer-songwriter Mikaben, things were looking more “up”, than the Manhattan and South Beach skylines combined.

Check out the interview below in which the designer talks about the books that have impacted her, balancing her work as the designer behind the label Bien Abyé, and running Fleur de Vie, her non-profit organization.

Kreyolicious: As time has gone by, do you feel that you have a better handle on how to manage your career as a designer and as a non-profit founder?
I definitely feel I have a better handle on how to manage my career as a designer and non-profit founder. The best way to describe is exactly that, managing. I love when people ask me this question because when you stop and look at some of the best designers out there, or at least my favorite ones, they are designing numerous brands and involved in so many initiatives. So to me, it’s the same and more about how do I bring them together, and in a way I am working on that. I love working with textile artisans in Haiti, and I am looking to engaging them in the production of Bien Abyé. At the same time, I believe nonprofit organizations need to keep sustainability as a key element of their infrastructure. So my focus is on how to bridge those gaps between Bien Abyé and Fleur De Vie.

Above: Participants at a Fleur de Vie event.

Kreyolicious: What book would you recommend that female leaders read to get a better handle on things?
That is a great question. Wow! I love reading so mmm, let me think a moment. My all-time favorite book that I find myself reading every time I am going through a new chapter in my life is The Alchemist. I actually first read it on the plane to Haiti when we did the first Back to School program five years ago. I loved it because the idea of seeking out one’s true destiny and never giving up. As a leader, one sometimes has to make hard decisions that the team might not see the vision or the end result. It is up to the leader to have the intuition, the direction to know what to do and accept what will come next through your actions. I can name so many other books, but I would say that is my favorite…To the point I have shared it with our volunteers in Haiti and have been thinking of incorporating it with our teachers and students of Fleur de Vie.

A Fleur de Vie Back to School event in Haiti.

Kreyolicious: Where do you see Fleur de Vie two years from today?
God willing, I would like to see Fleur De Vie grow to have a school in the south and in the north of Haiti. I would also like to grow our on the ground members to a larger scale. It is important that the community be involved in the promotion of social education to the youth. It’s all about nurturing the next generation. I would also like to see Fleur De Vie be more financially sustainable. Our programs require funding that is really not coming in at the rate we need it to. Two years from now, I would like to come up with a way to solve this issue.

BE SURE TO CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE FLEUR DE VIE WEBSITE AND LEARN MORE ABOUT DAYANNE, AND HOW YOU CAN HELP HER ORGANIZATION!

If you want to meet determination and creativity in the form of a person, meet Goretty Gordon. Goretty is the founder of READ2MeNiTE, a parent-child reading club, and the author of Mikey and Gloria’s Secrets. Wanting to write a book, and actually writing one are two different things. During a conversation with your girl Kreyolicious, she went over all aspects of her journey, and discussed how her book came about. But just as important as her book is the story of the author who wrote it…and I think you’ll find it just as compelling. Read on…

Kreyolicious: Tell us about yourself.

I am a blessed Haitian lady, married to a wonderful Jamaican man. I am also a mother of three young spectacular children and author of Mikey and Gloria’s Secrets, the first of the Secrets series. These stories emphasize on the importance of all children revealing any and all possible harmful secrets they may keep.

I was brought up in Boston, but have lived in South Florida for over a decade now. I grew up watching my mother work all the time. My dad worked as well. Our job as children was to go to school and do our homework. Reading was always encouraged. I developed a love for reading and writing early on but never truly realized what effect I could have on people who read what I wrote. When I moved to South Florida, I never intended to write, although my actions proved otherwise. I worked many jobs and many times if I had the opportunity, at lunch time let’s say, it wasn’t uncommon to find me writing the time away. Eventually I found less and less time to write. It wasn’t until recently when my past and present seemed to come full circle that I found myself being pushed back into my writing. I was in a state of many emotions and internal conflicts. I honestly believe God reconnected me with my passion for writing as a means to not only tighten my bond with my children—who inspire me daily—but also as a source of escape. The funny thing about that is when following your passions to escape from things you sometimes find yourself using that very thing to help others. I guess that’s when healing really begins, wouldn’t you say? Well, I say Amen for the process of healing.

Kreyolicious: What was the writing and publishing process like for Mikey and Gloria’s Secrets
When I started writing Mikey and Gloria’s Secrets , it was a story I intended for my children. I never knew what the content would consist of. I didn’t even have the title until it was completed. I wanted to be a better mom when it came to reading to my children. I struggled more with the fact that I wasn’t making a more diligent effort at doing it because I was someone who loved to read and write. As a mom—before I had children—I always thought if I ever did have children that reading to them would be my ace in the hole. Not only that, I grew up in a Haitian home and we all know the saying, aller chercher un livre [Go get a book]. So when all the excuses you can think of—“It’s way past your bedtime”, “Okay, the rest for tomorrow”—[were said] after only reading a few lines became a pattern, I had to do something about it. I just had to. I started jotting things down one day as I waited at my son’s school pick-up spot. I decided I would write a story for my babies. Before I knew it, I had a story that pretty much started me in on this message of secrets and talking about [them]. Being a stay-at-home mom now for the past couple of years almost, has been so rewarding in the obvious ways, but there’s something to be said for the women and children out there who do that while carrying baggage of the past in regards to violence and sexual assaults. You’re home most of the day and watching your children sometimes becomes a most fearful experience. The fear of someone hurting your child when you’re not looking—or worse still right under your nose—is a real terrifying feeling. Prevention is important, yes–but let’s be honest–in most circumstances we usually prevent when we know something is up. I say we need to shield my children, your children, our children before we believe something is up. I don’t believe I was given this passion of mine for me and mine alone. Mikey and Gloria’s Secrets and the message of secrets is one all children deserve access to. I started a reading group with the kids as well in which I invited any child or parent who wanted to attend on a bi-weekly basis to come read with us. I figured if someone like me who’s a bookworm at heart finds reasons not to read to my [reading-]craving children, then others might need a little accountability as well. My son’s elementary school motto is, “It takes a village.” I’d like to add the village has to be willing.

Kreyolicious: When you were in elementary school, did you take construction paper and try to make a book cover for an imaginary book?
I don’t remember ever trying to make a cover for an imaginary book when I was in elementary school, but I do recall in middle school I got to make a journal while the other students completed their projects to pass for the term. My requirements were already fulfilled, so I got to choose to make a journal for fun. I used construction paper for the interior sleeves and thicker type of paper—perhaps cardboard—for the exterior. I covered that with a pretty pink fabric with vertical stripes on it. Once it was graded for the sake of being graded and returned to me, I gave it to my mother as a random gift. To this day, I peek through it every so often as I remember her.

Kreyolicous: Do you think school helped shaped who you’ve become?
I believe every experience in life—whether you’re a spectator or a participant—if you’re a witness, it will definitely shape you in some form or fashion. My experiences at school ranged from feeling alone in elementary due to being a minority in a primarily Caucasian school to feeling alone and awkward when I tried fitting in once I reached middle school. The hard part in that was not really being into the slang and boys yet, wearing clothes more than once in a week, my lips were too big and my backside was definitely not in, yet. I was the ugly Haitian girl, the big-lipped girl, and my name was Goretty Spaghetti. To top that off, I was the tallest most of my school years. In high school, things started to turn around a bit, but I by no means knew who the true me was or would be. Of course, at that age, I thought I did [know the true me]. In hindsight, I think school is where I started to learn for myself how I wanted to be treated, and how I would try and treat others. More importantly for me now also, is how I want my children and all children to be treated by each other and by adults.

Kreyolicious: Did you ever feel discouraged through the process?
Of course, I felt discouraged at times. I don’t think anyone can pursue a dream without some frustration. The times I feel most discouraged were when self-doubt started to creep its ugly head into mine. When you’re passionate about something, you’re compelled to see it through. Of course you have those moments. One of my biggest concerns in the beginning of this process was the content. I felt like, yes, I am child-like in many ways and can relate to children, but I am an adult. Will my wording offend anyone? Is the language appropriate enough? Is the message of Secrets: Talk About It clear to readers, children and adults alike?

Kreyolicious: What kept you going?
Those times I prayed, played with my kids and thought about why I wanted to succeed. I reread [the manuscript], asked appropriate people—such as teachers—for critiques, and keep it moving.

Kreyolicious: What would you like to tell those who’d like to become authors?
To anyone who desires to be an author I say, if you have a story to tell, don’t live with regret. Tell it. Face your fears head-on. Write because you can’t help it, and get published because you just have to share it.

Kreyolicious: How do you stay connected to Haitian culture?
I am in the group of Haitians who left Haiti when we were about five or six years old, and haven’t returned. When my parents vacationed there, it was common that one had to stay behind to work and watch us kids while we attend school. That’s one of the drawbacks of working for other people…they tell you when you can take vacations. I speak what I like to call broken Creole, but can definitely hold my own in a conversation. But, they might make fun of me in Haiti to say the least. [Laughter] No matter what, Haiti is in me and I in her. Nothing can change that. Nor would I ever want to. The goal is reach as many children as possible with the message of Secrets. [Get them to] talk about it. My Haitian babies won’t be forgotten.

Kreyolicious: What’s next for you?
The second book in the Secrets series, Secrets of Friends, is now available on Amazon in softcover and kindle as well. I am currently working on the third Secrets: Talk About It book. It isn’t going away anytime soon. For the sake of all children, we need to provide them with this tool that tells them we are listening to the silence and our eyes are open to the unseen. They are not alone. We can’t help if we don’t know. They need to know if they are being hurt—maybe touched or hit—when it comes to harmful secrets like those they need to talk about it. Follow me on this journey and join in on this important message. Purchase a copy for your child, any child. Read with them. Ask questions about the issues the stories bring up. Let’s help them speak out.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE GORETTY GORDON’S BOOK ON AMAZON |

Vanessa Cantave loved cooking so much, that she left a lucrative job that was paying her in six figures to launch a career as the co-founding CEO of her own company Yum Yum NYC. But wait! Didn’t she place a check in the Political Science box in the college majors choices column? She did, but a girl is allowed to expand her mind and try new things, isn’t she?

Cooking, though, had always been a huge part of her life. Growing up Haitian, she had her share of plates of diri, sòs pwa, and legim and other assorted Haitian dishes. Her advertising career initially started in Atlanta, and then took her to New York. In 2005, Cantave decided to take a risk—a humongous risk—and opened up Yum Yum. It was not to be an ordinary restaurant. Cantave decided that she would also add an instructional component to her business, in addition to offering catering and entertainment consultation services.

In the late 2000s, in spite of the fact that the country was in a recession, Yum Yum NYC grossed $2 million dollars—thanks to prestige-building client brands like Target, Kiehl’s, Intel and Nike. As if Cantave’s cup wasn’t overflowing enough, yet another opportunity would come her way. “Rocco’s Dinner Party”, the Bravo Channel’s much-talked about cooking show was recruiting contestants in late 2010—and after being cajoled into auditioning by a friend—Cantave joined the reality show and wound up being the winning contestant!

Her participation on the show widened her already huge platform. Then Fox Business News came calling, and so did Black Enterprise, among other media outlets, who tapped her for her culinary expertise. With her own cookbook on the horizon, it is only a matter of time before Cantave achieves more milestones in her career as a chef, entrepreneur and restaurant industry mogul.

Q & A

You were born in Brooklyn? And you grew up in a home with Haitian parents. What was it like?
I was actually born in Washington D.C. My father was in the Army, so we moved around a lot. I lived in Belgium, outside Chicago, VA, Atlanta. I’ve lived in Brooklyn for eight years and definitely call New York City home. Growing up with Haitian parents and family was great! I think for most kids growing up with parents who emigrated to the U.S feel blessed to have two cultures to identify with. I’m American, but my upbringing, my values, my spirituality, the food I love, my energy are all rooted in Haitian culture. I’ve always felt that my family and extended family—grandparents, cousins— had a much stronger sense of togetherness than some of my American friends.

When was the last time you went to Haiti?
Many years ago. 2001.

You attended the French Culinary Institute. Do you feel that attending cooking school is absolutely dispensable to the development of a chef?
For me, it was an amazing experience! It allows someone with natural ability to hone and define their skills. You learn proper techniques, history, nomenclature and overall how to move in the kitchen. I highly recommend a good culinary program to those interested in becoming professional chefs.

Lots of us love to cook, but how can we take it to the next level? How can a casual cook become a chef?
If a home cook would like to simply enhance their skills, they can save money by simply taking cooking lessons with a chef or attending workshops and classes. I used to teach free classes at Williams-Sonoma. My students love learning new techniques and working with fun kitchen tools.

What’s the best thing about being Haitian?
Having a strong culture to identify with besides being American. And eating Haitian food!

You left a six figures job in the world of advertising and marketing to become a professional chef. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs wishing to start something of their own, who may not necessarily have had six figures past job to cushion them? Sorry if that sounds like an insult, but I know that’s the first thing people will be thinking.
No insult taken and honestly, I had no savings. I wouldn’t advise doing it my way. I just literally went for it, and didn’t think things all the way through. I just k new I wanted to be a chef and “time was a wastin”! My advice: build a strong support system of friends and family for the hard times. And be willing to start over. When you are completely switching careers you have to be willing to start at the bottom. Doesn’t matter if you were a VP in another industry. Your past experience will eventually come into play in some form or fashion, but humble yourself. Listen and learn.

What’s a typical day like for you? If there’s even such a thing as typical in your life.
Every day is different! I may be meeting with clients, in the kitchen with my chefs, in the office working on sales or other business initiatives and these days I could be doing a television or magazine shoot! Never a boring day!

Who was the best cook you knew growing up?
Hmm. I could get in trouble for this one! I learned from my mom, dad and maternal grandmother, but honestly each of them have different specialties, so I’ll take all three!

You graduated from James Madison University and has a B.A. in political science. You had plans to become an attorney?
No. I just picked a major that I was interested in…my parents were most concerned in me graduating from college, so it never really mattered what I studied. After all, I really wanted to be a chef anyway. Do you think your parents are proud of your accomplishments? Very much. They tell me all the time. What were you like in high school? Outgoing and involved in several organizations. Gymnastics. Cheerleading. Student Government. Peer Mediator. I even won “Home Economics Student of the Year” my junior year! Ha!

And you’re working on a cookbook! Can you tell us what to expect from it?
Slowly coming along, but my future cookbook—and future restaurant—will reflect a passion of mine: New American cuisine meets Haitian. Similar to the food I prepared on Rocco’s Dinner Party. If you have a recipe of yours that you’d like to share, feel free to.

Dumb question: how is your Kreyòl tifi?
Terrible. My cousin’s make fun of me all the time. Funny thing is I understand 100%. I think I’m shy. Let’s blame my parents. [Laughter]

In 2011, you won the “Rocco’s Dinner Party” reality TV competition.
Such a cool experience. I was talked into auditioning by a casting agent friend. Even though the $20K cash prize was awesome, in the end I just really enjoyed being on camera and have gone on to do much more television, and media. I also got a chance to introduce sooooo many viewers to Haitian food. So much of America thinks that all Caribbean cuisine is Jamaican. I chose to marry Haitian with Classic French and the combination was delicious. I was so pleased with what I created and now, I want to really develop this style of cooking. My future restaurant and cookbook will reflect this cuisine concept and represent everything I love about food.

Do you imagine waking up one day and not having any passion for catering, or for cooking for that matter?
Impossible. Cooking and entertaining is in my bones. I may not be a caterer specifically, but no matter what I do, I will be cooking and entertaining. What’s in the plans for Yum Yum Inc? I would love to have my own television show and reach a larger audience. I am a chef, but also love teaching people how to plan every aspect of their event. I love beautiful things and I love making people happy. I would like to create a show that reflects everything I love, not just cooking.

MJ Fievre’s novel A Sky the Color of Chaos, is a memoir so real, and so horror-novel-scary that when you look at the photo of the smiley author, you have a hard time associating her with the events mentioned in her life story. She’s a survivor of late 1990s and early 2000s Haiti, when the country was going through radical changes.

Digging through newspaper archives will give you the national story, but reading A Sky the Color of Chaos will give you the human story—close-up.

Let’s talk things over with the author and learn more about her book, and what led her to write her memoir at this stage of her life.

Kreyolicious: The title of your memoir is rather imaginative. A Sky the Color of Chaos… You sit there, and you imagine a sky the color of gunpowder. Was this the first title that occurred to you?
It can be a challenge to find the perfect title for a book…something both smart and intriguing that truly captures the essence of the work. People will happily tell you that a title idea stinks, that it’s a cliché, yet they won’t necessarily offer a better alternative. Titles are hard because they can kill a book. In the course of writing A Sky the Color of Chaos, I adopted at least fifteen working titles—from Inheritance to A Girl from Port-au-Prince to Child of My Father. They were all awful. In the end, the title came to me during my semester in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Downtown Santa Cruz carries a surprising resemblance to old Port-au-Prince, with its colonial architecture, its wooden porches, its balconies. Just like on Rue Pavée or Rue du Magasin de l’État, in Haiti, there was loud music emanating from car stereos and folks yelling at each other (albeit in Spanish) from across the street or down to the street from 19th Century windows, and streets were sometimes impassibly thick with throngs of people just milling about without regard for cars or buses. It was eerie. While on a taxi on Calle Sucre, I was transported back to Port-au-Prince and I pondered the contrast between the striking beauty of my birth city and the “pop up” violence there.

There is this scene in my memoir where I find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m in the middle of a crowd and there’s a shooting. I take cover behind a trash can and keep my eyes on the gorgeous blue of the sky. An excerpt from the book reads, “I gagged at the stench from the waste; the ground was puke green. As I lay in the mud, I heard more screaming. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my calves. My entire body trembled. But in the midst of this, the sky remained a beautiful blue.”

Thinking about that scene, many strong titles occurred to me. The next day, my writing students at the International University helped me narrow down the list.

Kreyolicious: That’s such a lovely, poetically-described scene…In the book, you write about your father, in particular his flaws…Was that hard to do?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how much of my father always slips into my fiction. If I look back on any of my novels—there he is. I’m yearning for his love in Le Feu de la Vengeance (The Fire of Vengeance). I resent his anger in La Bête (The Beast). I wish to run away from him in Les Hommes en Rouge (The Men in Red). I don’t do this on purpose and usually I don’t even recognize it until the writing is complete and there is distance between myself and the work. My father has always fascinated me. He was such an interesting, complex, larger-than-life character.

In nonfiction, the portrayal of such a multi-faceted individual was challenging. I had a love-hate relationship with Papa. It would have been so easy to play the victim and turn the memoir into a pity party, but after my father died, I wanted A Sky the Color of Chaos to have the ring of testament, the sound and feel and grip of a book that was born from truth. I wanted the reader to understand the intricacies of daughterly love.

I don’t think that I overly focused on Papa’s flaws. Yes, my father had many shortcomings, but I also shared with the reader everything that made him a delightful human being: his loyalty to his friends, his sense of humor, his hard work. Getting the essence of an individual and putting it on paper, that’s never easy. I had to grow both as a writer and as an individual to write this story. Rise above the violence and the hurt and the acrimony to find the humanity in my father. He was just a man, after all.

Kreyolicious: There aren’t many books in English written by someone from Haiti about the period you write about (the 1990’s and early 2000’s). Did you feel like a pioneer of sorts?
While fact-checking A Sky the Color of Chaos and conducting some research for my footnotes, I discovered a plethora of news articles about Haiti in the 1990s. Journalists Kathie Klarreich and Michael Tarr were instrumental in directing me towards useful reports. There aren’t many literary pieces in English about this time period, however, and certainly no memoir that I know of, which is unfortunate because the Nineties constitute such an important chapter in Haitian history. The Duvalier era is over. The people get a shot at building a democracy, but the country, once again, falls apart. During the late 1980s and 90s, from when I was eight-years-old to eighteen, Haiti’s government changed forms eight times. The Haitian people endured fraudulent elections, three military coups, a crippling embargo, and a United Nations occupation. I do feel like a pioneer. I consider A Sky the Color of Chaos the first historical memoir about this era. I wrote the book not only to tell my own story, but also to document the story of my time. I was very careful with factual accuracy and chronology, using quotes from newspapers, letters and other verifiable, external records in my footnotes to make this memoir authentic.

Because of their unemotional nature, news articles do not fully capture the impact of political instability and the 1990’s embargo on the every day life of people in Haiti. Children are reported dying but no one describes the piles of bodies at the morgue. (“They were in such a state of decay, they were barely recognizable as humans. Masses of rotting flesh, greenish black.”) News articles might mention the many days when students couldn’t go to school because of tires burning downtown or a new gas shortage, but they are silent as to what these children are up to when left unsupervised. The journalist writes about the many hours spent in lines at gas stations; the memoirist describes the sun toasting the drivers’ bodies, the tempers flaring, the gas station attendant being knifed by an impatient customer. I remember so many nights spent studying in candlelight. I remember many friends fleeing to the United States for a better life. The son of a neighbor boarded a boat that sank at sea. Another became a gang member and robbed his girlfriend’s house. Those stories are more real to me than what was reported in the news. And people need to know those stories.

Kreyolicious: Once the book was printed, you probably read it all over again. In doing so, did you wish you could take some of it back? Whenever a writer gets personal, doesn’t the vulnerability factor kick in?

Throughout the years, I’ve shared many excerpts of the book online, on the Nervous Breakdown and other literary magazines, including Tupelo Quarterly, The Caribbean Writer, and The Southeast Review. Fictionalized chapters appeared in Haiti Noir (edited by Edwidge Danticat) and The Mom Egg. The process of letting go was therefore very progressive. Before the release of the memoir, my personal life was already “out there” for anyone to put under the microscope and judge. I did many nonfiction readings in South Florida (at the NSU Art Museum, at Books & Books, at the Miami Book Fair, and so on) so that I practiced getting over my vulnerability.

My publisher (Matt Peters) and I worked on a series of six formatted proofs before I signed the final consent for the publication of A Sky the Color of Chaos. A month or so before the book came out, I decided to change almost all the names (to “protect the innocent”). At the last minute, I wanted to get rid of the only sex scene in the book (which I did). Then there was my week-long crusade against all curse words, so that the book could be adopted by the public school system. Matt (who is a very patient man and trusts my judgment) had to say, ENOUGH. When I finally signed the release, I felt relieved. I’d been holding on to this book for way too long—eight years!

I haven’t read the book since it’s been available in print. I double-checked the format and page numbers to make sure there were no obvious misprints, but that’s it. I’m ready for the next project. The memoir is done.

Kreyolicious: You were part of the Miami International Book Fair [last year]. How did you enjoy that experience?
I made many appearances at the book fair. I had a blast!

On the Saturday [of the fair], I was part of a Haiti-focused panel titled “Land of Upheaval: A Literary Journey through Haiti’s Modern History.” With moderator Hector Duarte Jr., Fabienne Josaphat, Katia D. Ulysse, and I discussed Haiti’s recent history, viewed through the prism of literature — from the days of Papa Doc Duvalier, to the tumultuous reign of President Aristide, to the earthquake that displaced more than 1.5 million people. (In March of next year, Hector, Fabienne, Katia, and I are traveling to Los Angeles, California, to present this panel at AWP!)

In the afternoon, I was invited by Wordier Than Thou to share at The Swamp a poem about what drew me to South Florida. Later on, I joined Mutsuki Mockett, Nikki Moustaki, and Suki Kim for “The World Over: Memoirs of Place.” All day, I was surrounded by greatness. It’s exhilarating!

On Sunday, I was one of the authors featured at Sunday Salon with Orange Island Art Foundation. I also had the honor of moderating “EXPATS! Haitian Women Poets in Exile: A Trilingual Reading in English, French, and Haitian Creole.” Three women from Haiti read and discussed poems that examine the physical, sociopolitical, canonical, and psychological kinds of exile endured by women writers of Haitian Descent. Poets Rebecca N. Carmant, Angie Bell, and Naomiel (in conversation with me) probed the complex issues of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class that limit (or enrich!) their lives as expats.

Kreyolicious: Are you already tackling a novel?
I am! It’s a collaborative work with two awesome individuals: a talented fiction writer from Chile and a gifted Irish-American artist. That’s all I’ll say for now. Details later. I don’t want to jinx it.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE MJ FIEVRE’S BOOK ON AMAZON!