Africa Top Success Ils font l'Afrique
The Haitian writer, Yanick Lahens, received on Monday, 3rd November 2014, the Femina prize for her book, Bain de lune. The author describes in this work, the troubles through which her country is passing through these recent years (destruction, political crisis…).
Submerged by a crowd of journalistic at Cercle Interallié, the street of Saint-Honoré faubourg, the prize-winner did not hide her emotion.
« I am very happy. Reward makes people feel good and I am especially sensitive to the fact that the jury understood that this story, if it happens in Haiti, is universal« , she indicated before specifying that this distinction was a surprise.
« I come from far away and I live very, very far from the Parisian publishing houses. This book and this prize are as well a proof that the Haitian culture is very strong and the novel shows to what extent in Haiti we always know how to recover from events« .
Christine Jordis, member and spokesman of the jury, explained the choice of the prize-winner by the beauty of her work.
« It is a lovely novel, very ample, that has a sense of mystery and invisible and that takes us out of our usual horizon (…) The author has a great imagination, she evokes her departed ancestors who always have a very strong influence on the living« , she explained.
We should remind that the Foreign Femina Prize came to the Israeli, Zeruya Shalev for her work « Ce qui reste de nos vies » (what remains from our lives).
Yanick Lahens, born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on 22nd December 1953, she made her studies at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne before returning into Haiti where she teaches at the teachers’ training college until 1995. Much involved in community life of Haiti, she is co-founder of the Haitian writers Association and with « Culture and Creation » foundation, she created a library in Saint-Louis-du-Nord. She also testifies after the earthquake of 2010.
Original textby: Roger ADZAFO
