PARTICIPATE! KRIK? KRAK! STORIES OF HAITI

Liliane Nérette Louis is a Haitian folk artist specializing in storytelling, cooking, and traditional medicine. She grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where her mother told her stories in Haitian Creole. As she grew older, Liliane shared these stories with her younger siblings and later with her own children. After settling in Miami in 1977, she began a long career of storytelling presentations and cooking demonstrations at festivals, schools, and other events. Liliane is a former master artist in the Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Program, a two-time winner of the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Folk Arts, and a Florida Folk Heritage Award honoree. She is the author of various books written in English and Creole: When Night Falls, Kric! Krac!: Haitian Folktales (1999), Pumpkin Soup is for Sunday (2011), and The Magic of Zenga and the Pumpkin Soup (2014).

Lucrèce Louisdhon-Louinis is a professional storyteller, librarian, and dancer. She traveled to New York City from Haiti to earn her bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a master’s degree in library science from St. John’s University. After graduating with honors in 1986, she became a children’s librarian at the Queens Borough Public Library and later rose to the position of assistant coordinator of children’s services. Ms. Louisdhon-Louinis joined Miami-Dade’s public library system in 1997, and quickly became the assistant director of outreach, programming and special services. One of her major accomplishments during her tenure at Miami-Dade libraries was the implementation of the Art of Storytelling (AOS), an international cultural exchange program. Ms. Louisdhon-Lounis is currently a dancer and executive director of the Louinès Lounis Haitian Dance Theater, Inc., a cultural dance company that performs authentic Haitian folk dances, songs, and rhythms throughout the United States and Canada.