Lyonel Trouillot

Lyonel Trouillot (born 31 December 1956, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is a novelist and poet in French and Haitian Creole, a journalist and a professor of French and Creole literature in Port-au-Prince.

Early life Left-to-right: Lyonel, Évelyne, Michel-Rolph, and Jocelyne Trouillot in front of their home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Lyonel Trouillot was born into a family of lawyers. He has a brother, Michel-Rolph Trouillot (anthropologist and historian), and his two sisters are the writer Évelyne Trouillot and the writer and educator Jocelyne Trouillot. His uncle was the historian Henock Trouillot. Following his parents' divorce in the late 1960s, he went to the United States with his mother. He returned to Haiti at age 19, in 1975.

Between 1980 and 1982, political repression forced Trouillot to emigrate to Miami.

Trouillot began publishing his work in Port-au-Prince. His first novel, Les fous de Saint-Antoine, was published in 1989 by Editions Deschamps, prefaced by his mentor, René Philoctète. His second book, Le Livre de Marie, was published in 1993 by Editions Mémoire, and his third novel, Rue des pas-perdus, was published in 1998 by Actes Sud in Paris. In 2000, Thèrese en mille morceaux, published by Actes Sud, made him known worldwide.

Trouillot's poetic writing, close to spiralism (a Haitian literary genre stemming from the Duvalier regimes), attracted readers and publishers alike. His exceptional talent and the depth of his writing place him among some of the greatest francophone authors. His novel La Belle Amour humaine earned him a place among the four finalists for the Prix Goncourt in 2011 – ultimately won that year by Alexis Jenni for L'Art français de la guerre. In 2013, he paid homage to Haitian comedian Karl Marcel Casséus in Parabole du failli.

In addition to writing, Trouillot has taken on many other projects throughout his career. Along with his sister Évelyne and her daughter Nadève Ménard, he founded a writer's organisation named Pré-Texte.

Politics Trouillot is known for his political stances and for his resistance to the Haitian Duvalierist dictatorship. He was also part of the Collective Non of intellectuals and artists that helped to build momentum for the U.S. and paramilitary-backed ouster of the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was a member of the unelected transitional government following the departure of Aristide, as a cabinet minister of culture.

As an activist for democracy and justice in his country, his works often give voice to the voiceless, as seen in his 2004 novel, Bicentenaire. In 2016, during an interview in Libération for the publication of his novel Kannjawou, Trouillot denounced the dominance of Evangelical Christian denominations in Haiti. Trouillot is also a founding member of Rasanbleman pou Diyite Ayiti (RADI), which denounces many acts of violence and inequality in the country.

Select bibliography

Novels Les Fous de Saint-Antoine: traversée rythmique. (prefaced par René Philoctète) Port-au-Prince: Editions Deschamps, 1989; Pétion-Ville: C3 Éditions, 2013 Le Livre de Marie. Port-au-Prince: Editions Mémoire,1993. Rue des pas-perdus, Arles, Actes Sud, 1998, [Ed. Mémoire Port-au-Prince, 1996] Thérèse en mille morceaux, Actes Sud, Arles, 2000 Les enfants des héros, Actes Sud, Arles, 2002 Bicentenaire, Actes Sud, Arles, 2004 L'Amour avant que j'oublie, Actes Sud, Arles, 2007 Yanvalou pour Charlie, Actes Sud, Arles, 2009 dt. Yanvalou für Charlie, 2016, Traduction Barbara Heber-Schärer, Claudia Steinitz, Liebeskind Verlagsbuchhandlung, La Belle Amour humaine, Actes Sud, Arles, 2011 Parabole du failli, Actes Sud, Arles, 2013 Kannjawou, Arles, Actes Sud, 2016 Ne m’appelle pas Capitaine, Arles, Actes Sud, 2018 Antoine des Gommiers, Arles, Actes Sud, 2021 Veilleuse du Calvaire, Arles, Actes Sud, 2023

Poetry Depale, Editions des Ecrivains Haitiens, 1979 (with Pierre Richard Narcisse). Éloge de la contemplation, Riveneuve, Paris, 2009. Le doux parfum des temps à venir, Actes Sud, 2013. C'est avec mains qu'on fait chansons, Le Temps des Cerises, 2015.

Non-fiction Haïti, le dur devoir d'exister, with Amélie Baron, Mémoire d'Encrier, Montréal, 2010. Objectif : l'autre, with André Versaille, Brussels, Belgium, 2012. Dictionnaire de la rature, with Geneviève de Maupeou and Alain Sancerni, Actes Sud, 2014

Awards and recognition Trouillot was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2010.

In 2011, he was awarded the Prix Wepler for his novel Yanvalou pour Charlie. For La Belle Amour humane, he was awarded the Grand Prix du Roman Métis (2011), the Geneva Book Fair Literary Prize (2012), and the Gitanjali Literary Prize (2012).

In 2013, he was awarded the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde for his work Parabole du failli.