With narratives both riveting and full of unpredictable twists, Mars also uses humor as in her popular two volumes, Kool-Klub (20), where she sketches a smart representation of contemporary society in Haiti, especially of its youth. Her scathing portrayal of the humanitarian community mirrors that of the shantytown of Canaan that sprung from the ruins of the 2010 earthquake in Aux frontières de la soif (2013). Mars does not hesitate to explore the taboos of Haitian society, whether they are about faith or sexuality as in L’heure hybride (2005). As in Kasalé, first published in 2003, strong women abound in Mars’s novels, whether they are the victims of systemic and state violence ( Fado, 2005, Saisons sauvages, 2011) or whether they break taboos, racial and sexual, as in Je suis vivant (2015) and Le Prince noir de Lillian Russell (with Leslie Péan, 2011). Since then, Mars has published three more collections of short stories ( Mirage Hôtel, 2002 Et tant pis pour la mort, 2014 Laquelle de nous était Eurydice? 2014). After receiving the Jacques-Stephen Alexis prize for the short story “Soleils contraires” in 1997, Mars published her first collection, Un Parfum d’encens (1999) that also contains her famous story “Lobo”. Mars first published poetry ( Feu de miel, 1997).

A prolific author, she is also one of the most daring and original Haitian writers.

She will read some of her texts as well, and will answer questions. Kettly Mars will talk about her life as a writer and about the connections between her writing and important issues she represents in her fiction. Gender, Sexualities, Earthquake, and History: Writing in Haïti

Wounding Words by Evelyne Accad