Dany Laferrière

Dany Laferrière
Dany Laferrière in March 2010
Born	April 13, 1953 (1953-04-13) Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Occupation	Writer

Dany Laferrière (born Windsor Kléber Laferrière, in 13 April 1953) is a francophone Haitian and Canadian novelist and journalist.

Life

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, and raised in Petit Goâve, Laferrière worked as a journalist in Haïti before moving to Canada in 1976. He also worked as a journalist in Canada, and hosted television programming for the TQS network.

Laferrière published his first novel, Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer (How To Make Love To A Negro Without Getting Tired) in 1985. The novel was later adapted into a screenplay by Laferrière and Richard Sadler, earning a Genie Award nomination for best adapted screenplay at the 11th Genie Awards in 1990. The film adaptation of the novel starred Isaach De Bankolé and was directed by Jacques W. Benoit.

He writes his novels exclusively in French, although some have been published in English with translations by David Homel.

The 2005 film Heading South (Vers Le Sud) was adapted from three of his short stories.

In 2009, Laferrière won the prestigious Prix Médicis for his 11th novel, L'énigme du retour. Upon receiving the prize, he commented on its ability to open up a new readership in France, giving him visibility there. In the past Laferrière had always refused to be published in the fall, a season associated with the great literary prizes, but had been recommended to do so with "L'énigme du retour" by his editors. The novel follows Laferrière as he returns to his birthplace in Haïti, 33 years after he left it, upon learning of his father's death in New York. The narrative is somewhere between prose and poetry, nearing Japanese Haiku structures in some sections.

Laferrière lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Works

• Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer, 1985 (Éditions VLB) OCLC 15298108 .

English translation How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired, 1987 (Coach House Press)

• Éroshima, 1987 (Éditions VLB)

English translation Eroshima, 1991 (Coach House Press)

• L'odeur du café, 1991 (Éditions VLB)

English translation An Aroma of Coffee, 1993 (Coach House Press)

• Le goût des jeunes filles, 1992 (Éditions VLB)

English translation Dining with the Dictator, 1994 (Coach House Press)

• Cette grenade dans la main du jeune nègre est-elle une arme ou un fruit?, 1993 (Éditions VLB)

English translation Why Must a Black Writer Write About Sex?, 1994 (Coach House Press)

• Chronique de la dérive douce 1994 (Éditions VLB, poetry)

English translation A Drifting Year, 1997 (Douglas & McIntyre)

• Pays sans chapeau, 1996 (Éditions Lanctôt)

English translation Down Among the Dead Men, 1997 (Douglas & McIntyre)

• La chair du maître, 1997 (Éditions Lanctôt)
• Le charme des après-midi sans fin, 1997 (Éditions Lanctôt)
• Dans l'oeil du cyclone, 1999 (Éditions Lanctôt)
• Le cri des oiseaux foux, 2000 (Serpent à plumes)
• Je suis fatigué, 2000 (Les librairies initiales)
• Je suis fou de Vava, 2005 (Éditions de la Bagnole)
• Je suis un écrivain japonais
• La fête des morts, 2009 (Éditions de la Bagnole)
• L'énigme du retour, 2009 (Québec: Boréal, France: Grasset)

English translation The Return, 2011 (Douglas & McIntyre)

• Tout bouge autour de moi, 2010 (Mémoire d'encrier)

References & studies

• Beniamin Vasile, Dany Laferrière: l'autodidacte et le processus de création, Paris, l'Harmattan, collection "Critiques Littéraires", 2008.

External links

• Harmattan.fr
• Dany Laferrière at The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Critical bibliography (Auteurs.contemporain.info)
• Dany Laferrière at the Internet Movie Database
• Dany Laferrière at AllRovi
• Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguertitle at the Internet Movie Database
• Vers Le Sud at the Internet Movie Database