Writing in Haiti: A Balancing Act Between Passion and Survival

At a time when PDFs circulate via screenshots and piracy is becoming the norm, making a living from writing in Haiti is an exception. On the occasion of the 31st edition of Livres en folie, Le Nouvelliste spoke with several writers to discuss the economic realities of a profession where passion contends with precarity.

“I’ve never considered literature as a profession in the sense of a livelihood,” confides Lyonel Trouillot in an interview with the newspaper. A professor, he cites René Philoctète to illustrate his approach: “I did ‘my hard job as a teacher’ and I wrote.” Writing, for him, was never a revenue strategy, though he admits that it now provides some income, notably through publications abroad, translations, and various literary activities.

Margareth Papillon describes a flame that

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