Skip to main content

Fabienne Josaphat Discusses Her Novel In The Baron’s Shadow

Author Fabienne Josaphat, the author of Dancing in the Baron's Shadow
Two brothers dominate author Fabienne Josaphat’s first novel Dancing in the Baron’s Shadow. Having the word “dancing” in the book’s title, indicates a sort of celebration. There’s not much feasting for the main characters Raymond and Nicolas. The novel, which takes place in Haiti in the mid-60s, chronicles the lives of these brothers as they endure imprisonment and torture for their personal stances.

In Part I of the interview, we discussed her background. This time, we’ll discuss her writing process more in depth. CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED PART ONE OF THE INTERVIEW WITH FABIENNE JOSAPHAT!

Kreyolicious: Did you have other titles for your book before you settled on that one?
I had a few. None of them worked. I liked this one because it fits the concept of the Baron Samedi persona of Papa Doc, and it captures the essence of what it is like to dance with death as a means of escape.

Kreyolicious: And when you were done with your first draft…what steps did you take to get it into its final form?
The first draft was just one layer. By the second and third drafts, I had to add flesh to the story. I needed to make the characters more complex, more dimensional, and I needed the plot to be as tight and precise as possible. That meant a lot of editing and rethinking which characters were necessary, which ones had to be cut, which details to change, etc.
Author Fabienne Josaphat, the author of Dancing in the Baron's Shadow
Photo Credit: Gesi Schilling

Kreyolicious: If you were to make a list of your five most favorite fiction novels…what would you say they were?
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, General Sun, My Brother by Jacques Stephen Alexis, Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain, and Blindness by José Saramago.

Kreyolicious: Have you already begun work on your next novel?
Yes, I have. I can’t talk about it much, but I am very excited. It’s historical again.

Kreyolicious: Do you see Haiti always playing a role, and always having a place in your writing?
I used to think it would, and maybe it will for a long time, but I definitely see myself exploring characters who would be “global citizens,” or places that would ground readers regardless of their background. I hope to branch out.
 
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE FABIENNE JOSAPHAT’S NOVEL!

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED PART ONE OF THE INTERVIEW WITH FABIENNE JOSAPHAT!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BOOK-RELATED ARTICLES ON MY SITE!

Books, Barons, Discusses, Fabienne, Josaphat, Shadow
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Questions With Singer-Songwriter Mikaelle Cartright

Mikaelle Cartright has a voice that’s like tropical silk. The New York-born, singer-songwriter has a jazzy style that recalls the styles of singers like Anita Baker with a little hint of Shirley Bassey. How did she develop her jazzy style? What role do her parents play in her support system as a singer-songwriter? Read on to find out. Kreyolicious: Your name is Mikaelle, no doubt stemming from the name Michael, which means Who Can Be Like God ? What is the most extraordinary thing that’s happened to your life that has had you saying the same phrase? Mikaelle Cartright: Correct, my name means “Who is like God”. My existence causes me to ask that constantly. My birth was a miracle. My mother almost lost me. She was placed on bed rest somewhere around the fourth month. The muscles of her uterus were giving out and the doctor said I was going to just fall out. The medication, some hormone treatment, was barely available and when Baby Doc fell, it was chaos. My mother was, thank God, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Haiti’s First Lady of Rap, and Hip Hop Kreyol?

Eunide Edouarin—the Haiti-based rapper more popularly known as Princess Eud —doesn’t like to do interviews. “When I’m being interviewed,” the raptress contends, “I have so many things going on my head at the same time that I sometimes answer questions they never asked me, and I’m kinda shy.” Yet shyness is a quality that very few would identity with Edouarin. Take a performance for example in which the self-described homebody held her own alongside CaRiMi , one of the most popular Haitian pop bands on the market, during one of her first big performances in New York. Slithering sexily onstage, the singer-rapper rapped effortlessly on the band’s hit “Fanm Nan Move”, before dissolving into a verse of her own song “Hey” . It’s utter confidence and bravado that shines through; no signs of timidity. Edouarin is a self-proclaimed traditional girl, but her start in the Haitian rap music game was far from conventional. While hanging at a local radio station in Port-au-Prince, she was invite...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kreyolicious Interview: Mia Lopez, Publicist/Entrepreneur

Mia Lopez is the CEO and President of M.I.A. Media, Inc, a public relations firm based in Miami that caters to the Haitian entertainment industry. Lopez is a low-key person, but among her peers and industry insiders, her work doesn’t go unnoticed. Of her, Patrick Desvarieux, the founder of Kompa Magazine, said: “She is a natural. A people’s person. One of the best at what she does. A master of her craft.” Nick Jean of KalePwa.com calls her a pioneer. “She helped take the Haitian Community into modern times [in terms of her public relations work],” he contends. After being in the mainstream music industry, singer-songwriter Mickael Music wanted to enter the Haitian music market with her Bel Project, but wanted to go about it the right way. She recalls, “I asked around, ‘Who is the best PR marketing person in the Haitian music industry’? For the people that even knew what that meant all said, “Mia Lopez”, as if she [had] created the title in the Haitian music industry. When I say “ev...
Post a Comment
Read more