First Draft: A Literary Social with Katia D. Ulysse

A guided writing prompt with a twist.

Because writing is thirsty work.

Have a drink. Write a story. Have another drink. Write a better story.

Miami Book Fair presents First Draft, a series of informal writing events that turn happy hours into great stories.

You’re inspired. But you’re also thirsty. Bring your own drink and log in for a First Draft event and a guided writing prompt. Share your writing. You never know what you might knock out as you knock one back!

Instructor: Katia D. Ulysse
Theme: Dawning of a New Day

Katia D. Ulysse is Haitian-American fiction writer, born in Haiti. Her critically acclaimed collection of short stories, Drifting, published by Akashic Books in 2014, has at its core the serious issues which immigrant families in the United States face daily. Her novel, Mouths Don’t Speak, starts with the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010.  Booklist calls Ulysse’s work, “Intense and necessary.” Shelf Awareness writes, “[T]his beautifully written novel recalls Toni Morrison’s Paradise.” Library Journal calls her writing “Powerful.” Mouths Don’t Speak was listed as one of the anticipated fiction books of 2018. Ulysse has written two bilingual children’s books: Fabiola Can Count, and Fabiola Goes to School. Her short stories, essays, and pushcart-nominated poetry have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals, including The Caribbean Writer, Rumpus, The Hong Kong Review, Haiti Noir, Calabash, Peregrine, among others.  She received a Master of Arts from Notre Dame of Maryland University. She is an educator and advocate for immigrant families. She served as Goucher College’s Writer in Residence in 2017. Her most recent work of fiction, “Golden Anniversary” was published in Us Against Alzheimer’s—an anthology that brings awareness to a widespread health issue affecting the elderly in every community. Katia D. Ulysse lives in Maryland with her husband and their daughter.

 

This event is part of Miami Book Fair’s ReadCaribbean programs, sponsored in part by the Green Family Foundation, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.