24033: Murray: (pub) Poujol-Oriol book to be published in English (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Bill Murray billm@developassociates.com

Dear Corbetters,

Haitian writer Paulette Poujol-Oriol's first novel to be translated into
English, Vale of Tears (Le Passage), will be available this Spring through
Ibex Publishers, Inc., based in Bethesda, Md.



Translated by Delores Schaeffer of Minnesota with help from Dr. Claudine
Michel, a professor of Black Studies at the University of California at
Santa Barbara, the book features an introduction by best-selling author
Edwidge Dandicat and an afterwards by Dr. Carrol Coates, a translator and
professor from the State University of New York at Binghamton who helped
bring Vale of Tears to market in the U.S., and brought a lot of enthusiasm
to the project.



A work of fiction, most of Vale of Tears takes place in Port-au-Prince,
where the book's protagonist, Coralie, is trying to scrounge up enough money
during the New Year holiday to pay her rent. Part of the book is set in
France, where Coralie spent part of World War II. Through 14 chapters that
alternate between the present and past and seem to correspond with Christ's
passion, the reader learns how Coralie's fortunes have changed steadily for
the worse from childhood to middle age, beginning when she had to endure the
spite of her step-mother, a woman who eventually stole her inheritance and
separated Coralie from her only child.



>From being a beautiful light-skinned woman who was happily married and
prosperous at one time, Coralie eventually finds herself being forced to
sell herself and live apart from her only child, as her fortunes begin to
get worse. In the end, she finds herself reduced to begging for money from
family members and acquaintances and washing clothes for prostitutes.



Other writings by Mrs. Poujol-Oriol include Le Creuset (The Crucible), a
novel, published in Port-au-Prince by Deschampes in 1980. The title story
from La Fleur Rouge (1992), a volume of short stories, won the Parisian
newspaper Le Monde's 1988 prize for best short story in francophone countrie
s. Mrs. Poujol-Oriol published Le Passage in  French in 1996. She has also
written a play, Trou-Soleil.



The ISBN for the book is: 1-58814-020-2. The tentative cover price is
$16.99. Pre-order copies will be available before then for those who would
like to receive the book early.



For more information about Ibex Publishers, which has published 160 books
about Iran in English and Persian since 1979, please visit the company's
website at www.ibexpub.com. The company's phone number is (301) 718-8188 and
its e-mail is info@ibexpub.com.


Sincerely,



Bill Murray

(301) 513-5775 (voice)
(301) 513-5777 (fax)

billm@developassociates.com