HAITI UNVEILED: NARRATIVES OF CULTURE, HISTORY & WOMANHOOD

DR. SOLANGES VIVENS, a visionary in health care entrepreneurship for more than 40 years, has transitioned her focus to media, forming Vivens Media Group and launching a motivational podcast series. Born in Haiti, Vivens climbed the nursing ladder, establishing Vital Management Team, Long Term Care, Inc. in 1988, dedicated to quality in health care. She holds degrees from Long Island University and Georgetown University, and a doctoral degree in humane letters from Voorhees College. A renowned lecturer and author, she’s contributed to numerous publications and institutions. In 2001, she was named one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Business Persons in America. She’s also the founder, CEO, and president of Centres D'Etudes Classique de Meyer Fund, USA, aiding more than 300 children annually in Haiti since 2005. A believer in education and overcoming challenges, Vivens stands as an emblem of resilience and ambition, encouraging others to surmount their obstacles and reach their aspirations.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, author EDWIDGE DANTICAT came to the United States at the age of 12 and long called Miami home, where she was an active member and supporter of the city’s large Haitian community. She has written numerous books, including her critically acclaimed debut novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; Brother, I'm Dying, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist; Mama’s Nightingale, a heartbreaking and beautifully illustrated picture book about immigration; The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story, a memoir-like  reflection on her mother’s battle with cancer and an examination of how other writers approach the subject of death; and her most recent book, Everything Inside: Stories, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a 2018 Neustadt International Prize for Literature winner and the recipient of a MacArthur “genius" grant. Her inspiring words and work have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, and elsewhere.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, M.J. FIÈVRE moved to the United States in 2002. She is the author of Happy, Okay? Poems about Anxiety, Depression, Hope, and Survival, and the writer behind the Badass Black Girl series. She helps others write their way through trauma, build community, and create social change. She works with veterans, disenfranchised youth, cancer patients and survivors, victims of domestic and sexual violence, minorities, the elderly, those with chronic illness or going through transition, and any underserved population in need of writing as a form of therapy – even if they don’t realize that they need it. She currently writes from Winter Garden, Florida.

MICKI BERTHELOT MORENCY is a Haitian American author. She is a graduate of Northeastern University and the Institute for Writers. After a career in banking and social services, Morency merged both experiences into a consulting business while mentoring, advocating, and empowering women to find their voices. Her stories have appeared in Writer’s Digest Magazine, the Tampa Bay Times, The Weekly Challenger, and other print magazines and e-zines. She lives in Florida with her husband. The Island Sisters: A Novel (BHC Press), published in 2023, is her debut work of long fiction.

MYRIAM J. A. CHANCY, PH.D., is a Guggenheim Fellow and the Hartley Burr Alexander Chair of the Humanities at Scripps College. She is the author of What Storm, What Thunder, a novel on the 2010 Haiti earthquake (HarperCollins Canada/Tin House USA 2021), awarded a 2022 American Book Award (ABA) from the Before Columbus Foundation, and named a "Best Book of 2021," by NPR, Kirkus, the Chicago Public Library, the New York Public Library, Library Journal, the Boston Globe, Amazon Books and Canada's Globe & Mail. Her forthcoming books include Harvesting Haiti: Reflections on Unnatural Disasters (University of Texas Press, 2023), Spirit of Haiti: A Novel (20th anniversary edition, SUNY Press, 2023), and Village Weavers: A Novel (Tin House 2024). Her recent writings have appeared in Whetstone, Electric Literature, and Guernica.