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Critical Reception of Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat is an author and creator of many forms of storytelling. She does not hold tightly to novels or short stories or essays and frequently receives praise for her originality in storytelling. She has received numerous awards for at least five unique works. The New York Times has remarked on Danticat’s ability to create a “moving portrait and a vivid illustration.” The New Yorker has featured Danticat’s short stories and essays on multiple occasions, and regularly reviews her work.

Danticat’s branching out has included filmmaking, short stories, and most recently children’s literature. Mama’s Nightingale was written to help share the story of Haitian immigrants and family separation. The book combines Danticat’s trademark storytelling abilities, combined with work by artist Leslie Staub. Published in 2015 by Penguin Random House, the children’s book tells [http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/317418/mamas-nightingale-by-edwidge-danticat-illustrated-by-leslie-staub/9780525428091/. “a touching tale of parent-child separation and immigration…with stirring illustrations…and shows how every child has the power to make a difference.”]

In other creative pursuits, Danticat has worked on two films, Poto Mitan, which follows five Haitian women as pillars of the global economy, and Girl Rising. Her latter work, Girl Rising, received a large amount of press, largely due to the star power involved with the film (including Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Selena Gomez, Priyanka Chopra, Chloë Grace Mortez, Freida Pinto, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington). This film also made headlines because of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, which happened in 2014 and made international headlines after 276 female students were kidnapped. Different authors were asked to narrate the stories of schoolgirls from around the world, and Danticat narrated the story of Wadley from Haiti.

In perhaps her most personal book, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, Danticat’s tells her own story and how she came to be such a renowned storyteller, creator and artist as an immigrant part of the Haitian diaspora. Create Dangerously was inspired by author Albert Camus’ essay “Create Dangerously” on his experience as an author and creator who defined his art as “a revolt against everything fleeting and unfinished in the world.” It was chosen by The University of Kansas as the 2018-19 Common Book, which is distributed to all first year students at the university. It includes a series of essays, some of which had previously been published in The New Yorker and were well-received by critics and readers alike. She was asked to give the Toni Morrison Lecture at Princeton University in 2008.