They say behind mountains are more mountains.

After the Dance was my first attempt at nonfiction. I'd never really participated in carnival, and I really wanted to go. It sounded like a wonderfully fun thing to do. And I wanted to write something happy about Haiti, something celebratory. And going to carnival gave me a chance to do that, because it is one of the instances in Haiti when people shed their class separation and come together.

In Haiti you had the Duvaliers for 29 years and they were very well supported by the United States.

I hope to be a good role model for my daughters.

It's not easy to start over in a new place,' he said. 'Exile is not for everyone. Someone has to stay behind, to receive the letters and greet family members when they come back.

We need literature because we wouldn’t fully know ourselves without it. We need good literature to be fully human.

...women, brave as stars at dawn