Kettly Mars
Kettly Mars is a Haitian poet and novelist. She writes in French, and her books have been translated in English, Italian, Dutch, Danish, and Japanese.[1]
Life
Mars was born on September 3, 1958, in Port-au-Prince.[1] She studied classical languages and worked the first twenty five years of her career as an office worker.[2]
Since she was young she has been fascinated by poetry and around her age of thirty five years she began to write poems herself. Initially she wrote on the importance of love, the human body and sexuality in everyday life.[2][3][4]
Her novels are situated in Haiti, although her themes are rather universal. She makes combinations between for instance gender, human race, social class, spirituality, power and violence. In 2003 her first novel appeared, called Kasalé; since then more novels followed. Her work is characterized by a vivid realistic reflection of the society.[2][3][4]
Since about 2010 she works on an anthology on literature that was written in the 18th, 19th and 20th century by Haitian women.[4]
Awards
- 1996: Prix Jacques-Stephen Alexis
- 2006: Prix Senghor
- 2011: Bourse Barbancourt
- 2011: Prince Claus Award
Bibliography
Mars wrote a number of volumes of poems and short stories. Next to them she wrote the following novels:
- 2003: Kasalé, Vents d'Ailleurs, ISBN 978-2911412448
- 2005: L’heure hybride, Vents d'Ailleurs, ISBN 978-2911412363
- 2008: Fado, Mercure de France, ISBN 978-2715228535
- 2010: Saisons sauvages, Mercure de France, ISBN 978-2715229464
- 2011: Le prince noir de Lillian Russell, with Leslie Péan, Mercure de France, ISBN 978-2715232006
- 2013: Aux Frontières de la soif, Mercure de France, ISBN 978-2715233652
References
- 1 2 Lehman College, City University of New York, biography (French)
- 1 2 3 Oxfam-Novib, Kettly Mars (Dutch)
- 1 2 Writers Unlimited, biography (Dutch)
- 1 2 3 Prince Claus Fund (2011) biography