America's relationship with Haiti has always been very complicated. I often say to people, "Before we came to America, America came to us in the form of the American occupation from 1915 to 1934."

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.

I'm just melancholy by nature, and a lot of that gets into my writing.

...women, brave as stars at dawn

Creating these messes that go from administration to administration and then you swoop in and clean them up - with that heroic Delta force - people not realizing that they were always there but doing different things than what we see them doing at the moment.

I'm happy to be part of this chorus of people who are trying to tell more complex stories about Haiti.

And the fact that Haiti was occupied for 19 years by the United States, from 1915 to 1934.