I’m not always positive, but I love writing. You’re really positive about the writing process. I wanted to do my version of the story and let their voices come in later. But I really wanted to feel uncensored and uncluttered when I was actually writing the first draft. I wasn’t going to lie, but I wasn’t willing to lose my family members over writing a book. You risk alienating the people that are closest to you. Because that’s the problem with writing nonfiction. But I didn’t let them see it until I was done and once it was done I asked if there were things that offended them.
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They would remember things very differently than I did, sometimes, and I’d have to change things. I’d ask them about certain events as I was going along. In Brother, I’m Dying, I let my brothers read the entire thing once I was done. When you’re writing non-fiction, and with Brother, I’m Dying for example, how soon do you think about what your family’s reactions will be? I’d be very intimidated, knowing they were going to read whatever I’m working on.īecause if I brought them into the room as an audience, I’d worry too much about disappointing them. I can’t think, “So and so is going to say this or think that.” I can’t even think about the people I love most, what they’ll say about my work. I always try to leave the audience out of the room when I’m writing. I still do write for the joy of it and feel privileged I can do what I love to do for my job. There’s something really beautiful about nurturing the seed of an idea and watching it flower. That’s how I reconstruct and make sense of the world. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I still write primarily for myself. I’m intrigued by the construction of stories. It’s a bit simple, but I think I write, and will keep writing, because I love stories.
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At this point in your career, do you feel any differently about approaching a blank page? What compels you to keep writing? Your work has been highly acclaimed, and you’ve helped redefine and revolutionize contemporary Caribbean writing. Here we discuss the magic of the writing process, crafting novels for a variety of audiences and the ethics of writing non-fiction, among other topics. Danticat has been nominated twice for the National Book Award, she has received honorary degrees from Yale and Smith College, and she has been awarded the American Book Award, MacArthur Fellows Program Genius grant, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, among other honors. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of Haitian and Haitian Americans and participates in documentaries, talks and arts organizations in support of women of color, Haitians, and Caribbean immigrants. Her work has been widely anthologized and translated into numerous languages such as Japanese, French, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish. Danticat has written award-winning fiction, young adult and non-fiction books including Krik? Krak, Farming of Bones, Behind the Mountains, Brother, I’m Dying, and The Dew Breaker. Her thesis, a novel, eventually turned into the debut Breath, Eyes, Memory, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. She studied French literature at Barnard College in Manhattan and received her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Brown University. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Edwidge Danticat immigrated with her family to New York as a young teen.