Edwidge Danticat (b. 1969 Haiti) is a writer whose moving and insightful depictions of Haiti’s complex history enrich our understanding of the Haitian immigrant experience. Her novels, short stories and essays center on themes of family, isolation, and community. While grounded in a specific cultural milieu, they resonate with a wide range of audiences and have been translated into numerous other languages including French, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. Her short stories have appeared in over 25 periodicals and have been anthologized several times. Danticat is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program Genius Grant; Dayton Literary Peace Prize; The Story Priz, Lila-Wallace Reader’s Digest Grant; and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Edwidge Dandicant’s works include: Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak, (1996), and Brother, I’m Dying (2007), both National Book Award finalists; The Farming of Bones (1998); The Dewbreaker (2004); and two novels for young adults, Behind the Mountain (2002) and Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490 (2005). She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States and The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing by Men and Women of All Colors and Cultures. Her most recent collection, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work (2010), was inspired by Albert Camus’ lecture, “Create Dangerously.” It combines memoir and essay to tell the stories of artists, including herself, who create despite, or because of, the horrors that drove them from their homelands and that continue to haunt them.

Danticat was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti and moved to New York at the age of twelve. She earned a degree in French Literature from Barnard College, where she won the 1995 Woman of Achievement Award, and later earned an MFA in writing from Brown University in writing. She has been a visiting professor of creative writing at New York University and the University of Miami. She lives and works in Miami.

Edwidge Danticat spent her residence writing and thinking. One month later she returned to talk about her experiences at the Gardner and her work at a lecture entitled, A Writer at Fenway Court.