Edwidge Danticat on reading Eight Days in Haiti

Regular readers of PUP’s blog know we are publishing Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat in October. What you may not know that Edwidge is also publishing a children’s book titled Eight Days, about a boy who survives the Haitian earthquake.

On a recent trip to Haiti, Edwidge read her new book to a group of children in a child-friendly space sponsored by the International Rescue Committee. She writes about this moving experience at the Huffington Post.

Last week, I had the honor of traveling to Port-au-Prince and reading to a group of these children “Eight Days,” a picture book I wrote about the earthquake in Haiti. I read to them in one of several “child-friendly spaces” that the International Rescue Committee has sponsored in and around the city. “Eight Days” tells the story of a little boy who survives under the rubble of his house, using his memories and imagination to find hope within himself. I read to the children, showing the book’s vibrant illustrations and doing a simultaneous translation in Creole (the book will be translated into Haitian Creole). Though I was afraid of upsetting the children by reminding them of the trauma of the earthquake, they were braver than I in addressing the issue at hand.

Read the complete article here.