Frankétienne

Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d'Argent (Template:IPA; 12 April 1936 – 20 February 2025), known by his pen name Frankétienne, was a Haitian writer, poet, playwright, and painter.<ref name="PTC">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Glover">Template:Cite web</ref> He is recognized as one of Haiti's leading writers and playwrights in both French and Haitian Creole,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and is "known as the father of Haitian letters".<ref name="Archibold">Template:Cite news</ref> He was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009, made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Letters), and was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2010.<ref name="PTC"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Life and career

Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d'Argent was born in Ravine-Sèche, a small village in Haiti. His mother, Annette Étienne, a black Haitian, was 16 when she gave birth to him, and his father, Benjamin Lyles, a wealthy white American, was 63. His father then abandoned the family.<ref name="Glover"/><ref name="nytobit"/><ref name="Archibold"/> Frankétienne later said that he was given his first names by his mother and grandmother to protect him from sorcery.<ref name="cotodanica"/> He was raised by his mother in the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where she was a respected entrepreneur, owning her own business to support her eight children, managing to send him, her eldest, to school.<ref name="Glover"/> He grew up to work as a teacher in Bel Air.<ref name="jonassaint"/> At the age of 5, he was enrolled in Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial, where he learned French. Although he excelled in mathematics and physics, he failed the entrance exam for medicine, so he enrolled in an American mechanical school.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Writing

He attended the Institute of Higher International Studies in Haiti, where he was taught by Pradel Pompilus and Ghislain Gouraige. There, he first began writing poetry around 1960. He published his first texts – Au fils du temps, La marche, Mon côté gauche, and Vigie et verre in 1964 and 1965. His first novel, Mûr à crever, was published in 1968.<ref name="taleb-khyar">Template:Cite journal</ref> He was known as one of the main figures of the Haitian literary movement Template:Ill,<ref name="rfi1" /> alongside Jean-Claude Fignolé and René Philoctète.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1975, he published Dézafi (widely considered to be the first modern novel written entirely in Haitian Creole<ref name="Archibold" /><ref name=":03">Template:Cite web</ref>), and from 1977 onwards he worked in theater, producing the works Trofouban (1977), Pèlin-tèt (1978), Bobomasouri (1984), Kaselezo (1985), and Totolomannwe (1986).<ref name="taleb-khyar" />Template:Rp

Painting

He began to paint in 1973 and the first exhibition of his paintings took place in Port-au-Prince in 1974.<ref name="taleb-khyar" /> As of 2004, he had made about a thousand paintings.<ref name="jonassaint" /> His style was "expressive" and "abstract," often favoring red and blue, the colors of the Haitian flag.<ref name=":03" />

Awards and recognition

• In 1988, he served for four months as Minister of Culture of Haiti.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature (2009)<ref name=":03" />
• Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2010)<ref name=":03" />
• UNESCO Artist for Peace (2010), in recognition for his efforts to preserve Haitian culture and language.<ref name=":03" />
• Grand prix de la francophonie (2021)<ref name=":03" />

Death and legacy

Frankétienne died in Delmas on 20 February 2025, at the age of 88.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The circumstances of his death were not announced.<ref name="rfi1"/> Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said of him "Through his writings, he illuminated the world, carried the soul of Haiti and defied silence. May his word remain, may his spirit still blow. Farewell, master."<ref name="cotodanica">Template:Cite news</ref> He was survived by his wife, Marie-Andrée Étienne, his son Rudolphe, and his daughter Stéphane.<ref name="nytobit">Template:Cite news</ref>

Selected works

• Au Fil du Temps (1964)<ref name="jonassaint"/>
• Mûr à Crever (1968)<ref name="taleb-khyar"/>
• Ultravocal (1972)<ref name="jonassaint"/>
• Dézafi (1975)<ref name="jonassaint"/>
• Trofouban (1977)<ref name="taleb-khyar"/>
• Pèlin-Tèt (1978)<ref name="jonassaint"/>
• Bobomasouri (1984)<ref name="taleb-khyar"/>
• Kaselezo (1985)<ref name="taleb-khyar"/>
• Totolomannwe (1986)<ref name="taleb-khyar"/>
• Adjanoumelezo (1987)<ref name="jonassaint"/>
• L'oiseau-schizophone (1993)<ref name="jonassaint">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• H'Eros-Chimères (2002)<ref name="jonassaint"/>
• Désastre (12 janvier 2010), painting<ref name="cotodanica"/>
• Difficile émergence vers la lumière, painting<ref name="cotodanica"/>

Further reading

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• Jonassaint, Jean (1987). "Frankétienne, Écrivain haïtien," Dérives 53/54
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External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Frankétienne (Template:Webarchive). Author profile on Prince Claus Foundation site
• Île en île: Frankétienne author file Template:In lang, with biography, bibliography, and audio