Reading by Yanick Lahens

Table of contents

1. 1. 1. 1. About the book
         2. About the author
         3. Photo impressions

This spring, Litradukt published the latest novel "Soft Debacles" (Douces déroutes) by Yanick Lahens, one of Haiti's most important and best-known contemporary authors.

About the book

Port-au-Prince is the city of "soft debacles", smoothly orchestrated by those who profit from them. Those who stand in their way risk their lives. Like Raymond Berhier, a judge who "wanted to know too much". Six months later, his daughter Brune tries to come to terms with her father's death through music, while her uncle Pierre uses his connections to gain insight into the investigation. Brune and Pierre are surrounded by Ézéchiel, a revolutionary street fighter and poet, Waner, an adept of non-violence, Cyprien, an ambitious young lawyer, and the French journalist Francis, who is in Haiti for a report. As the connections gradually emerge, each person reveals their innermost feelings.

The "polyphonic song of fear, grief and longing" (Thekla Dannenberg, perlentaucher.de) reads like an anticipation of recent events. "Yanick Lahens skillfully sums up the dazzling ambivalence of her homeland and the helpless view from the outside in literary terms", judges Cornelius Wüllenkemper in Deutschlandfunk

1st place on the Litprom best list World Reception Summer 2021

About the author

Yanick Lahens, born in Port-au-Prince in 1953, became interested in Haiti's traditional culture at an early age. After studying literature at the Sorbonne, she taught at the Ecole normale supérieure in Port-au-Prince and championed the Creole language in education. Her best-known literary works include Dance of the Ancestors (Dans la maison du père), Dawn (La couleur de l'aube) and Bain de lune. She received the prestigious Prix Fémina for the latter work. In 2018-2019, Yanick Lahens held the Mondes francophones chair at the Collège de France.

An event in German and French in cooperation with the Institute français Dresden, the publisher Litradukt and arche noVa - Initiative für Menschen in Not e.V.

Time: October 7, 2021, 19:00-20:30
Place: Institute français Dresden, Kreuzstraße 6, 01067 Dresden

Moderation: Torsten König

German voice: Barbara Bellini

Admission: FREE

Pre-registration required at: cff_dresden[at]mailbox.tu-dresden.de

Please note the current announcements on our homepage as well as the general regulations regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

Access to the Institute only according to the 3 G rules (vaccinated, tested, recovered).

Photo impressions