18211: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-Danticat novel chosen for reading initiative (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Feb. 01, 2004

BOOKS
Danticat novel chosen for reading initiative
'Breath, Eyes, Memory' selected as salute to Haiti's bicentennial of its
proclamation of independence.
By MARGARIA FICHTNER
mfichtner@herald.com

Breath, Eyes, Memory, Edwidge Danticat's semi-autobiographical debut novel,
is this coming spring's featured title for Miami Dade College's Florida
Center for the Literary Arts' One Book, One Community reading initiative.

The Haitian-born Danticat, who now lives in Miami, will introduce the book
at 3 p.m. Feb. 8 at Little Havana's Tower Theater, 1508 SW Eighth St.,
Miami. Her appearance, a highlight of a free, Miami International Film
Festival celebration of Haitian film, music and performance, will coincide
with a screening of Christine Cynn and Harriet Hirshorn's The Raboteau
Trial. Danticat, whose latest fiction effort, The Dew Breaker, is due in
stores in March, will participate in a panel discussion following the film.

Published in 1994, Breath, Eyes, Memory recounts the story of 12-year-old
Sophie Caco, who is sent from her impoverished Haitian village to New York
City, where she is reunited with a mother she has not seen for years and
only barely remembers. ''Was I the mother you imagined?'' the woman asks.
''You don't have to answer me. . . .'' The tale, written when Danticat was
in her early 20s and nominated for a National Book Award, is an
often-heartbreaking exploration of what it is like to be young, black,
foreign-born, sexually awakening and female in a world too often eager to
regard all those conditions as less than worthwhile.

Roselyne Pirson, center program coordinator, says the book was chosen as a
salute to the bicentennial of Haiti's proclamation of independence and
because, ``It allows us to understand the richness of the Haitian culture
and that people here in Miami are all in a diaspora situation.''

One Book, One Community, which includes lectures, dramatic readings and
other activities, is an ongoing effort to inspire thousands of South Florida
readers of all ages and backgrounds to tackle the same book at the same
time. Previous selections include Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango
Street, Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying and Elie Wiesel's Night.

For information, call 305-237-7261.

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