Anthologie Secrète

"Ida is an extremely interesting woman and writer. They say that she is Haiti’s first female published writer. She was born in 1882 and published around the turn of the century. Her father was President of Haiti which gave her some opportunities to observe the country and its power structure at the time from up close. She wrote primarily poems and short stories, and after she left Haiti she lived in Paris where she died in 1969, the year that I was born so I have always felt this connection with her! She was beautiful and her poems were beautiful. She is probably the least known of my choices, but certainly deserves to be better known. Her poems tend to be very personal as are the short stories she wrote. She was, of course, writing what women were supposed to be writing at that time but you also get glimpses of the power and politics that she was surrounded by. She was also a great Haitian feminist who later inspired other wonderful women writers from Haiti. Here’s a fitting sample of Ida: Je n’avais apporté de mon lointain rivage, Que les jeunes espoirs de mon âme en éveil, Je n’avais apporté qu’un peu de ce soleil Qui brûle tout mon sang et dore mon visage… I will attempt a rough translation: From my distant brook, I brought nothing But the nascent hopes of my rousing soul I brought nothing but a sliver of sun Which burns in my blood and in my golden face… This a rough translation and could probably be done better, but it gives you some idea. I am not doing her justice here, but I’ve always loved that verse. It speaks volumes for me about migration, being an immigrant, especially an immigrant writer."