Dany
Laferrière

Journalist, TV and radio host, screenwriter, director and spokesperson for World Book and Copyright Day, Dany Laferrière worked as a journalist in his native Haiti during the notorious Duvalier regime, immigrating to Canada in 1978 after a colleague with whom he was collaborating on a story was murdered. He settled in Montreal, where he worked at various low-paying jobs while writing his first novel, Comment fair l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer (1985) [How to Make Love to a Negro, 1987]. A semi-autobiographical account of an impoverished black immigrant and his attraction to white women, the book was a critical and commercial success, and was later made into a feature film and translated into several languages.

The author of nineteen novels, he has won several awards, among them the first Prix Carbet des lycéens 2000 for Le cri des oiseaux fous and the Prix RFO du Livre 2002 for Cette grenade dans la main du jeune nègre est-elle une arme ou un fruit? [Why Must a Black Writer Write about Sex?, 1995]. Laferrière won the 2006 Governor General award for Je suis fou de Vava, his first novel for children.

The inspiration for the award-winning film starring Charlotte Rampling, Heading South is Laferrière’s twelfth novel, a provocative book that explores the line between sexual liberation and exploitation. He is also the author of I am a Japanese Writer, a devilishly intelligent, sensual and hilarious tale of a blocked Montreal writer who one day learns that he is famous in Japan for having written a novel he never wrote. Originally from Petit-Goâve, Haiti, Dany Laferrière lives in Montreal.