LARAQUE, Paul 1920-(Jacques Lenoir)

PERSONAL: Born September 21, 1920, in Haiti; son of Franck H. (a merchant) and Clarisse (a homemaker; maiden name, Leger) Laraque; married Marcelle Rene-Louis, 1951 (died, 1998); children: Max, Serge, Danielle. Ethnicity: "Black." Education: Earned bachelor's degree in Port au Prince, Haiti, 1938; attended military academy in Port au Prince, 1939-41; Fordham University, M.A., 1960. Politics: Marxist.

ADDRESSES: Home—43-36 Robinson St., Apt. 6C, Flushing, NY 11355.

CAREER: Haitian Army and Police, career military officer, 1939-60; manager of car-parking service, New York, NY, 1961-65; Fordham Preparatory School, Bronx, NY, teacher of French, 1966-86. Active in organizations opposed to Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti, 1960-86.

MEMBER: Association of Haitian Writers Abroad (secretary general, 1979-86).

AWARDS, HONORS: Casa de las Américas Prize for poetry, 1979.

WRITINGS:

Ce qui demeure (poetry), postscript by André Breton, illustrated by Davertige, Éditions Nouvelle Optique (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1973.

Fistibal (poetry), Éditions Nouvelle Optique (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1974.

Les armes quotidiennes [and] Poésie quotidienne, Casa de las Américas (Havana, Cuba), 1979.

Sòlda mawon, Haitian Book Center (Flushing, NY), 1987.

Le vieux nègre el l'exil, Silex (Paris, France), 1988.

Liberty Drum: Selected Poems, Azul Editions (Washington, DC), 1995.

(Editor, with Jack Hirschman) Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry, translated by Hirschman and Boadiba, Curbstone Press (Willimantic, CT), 2001.

Lespwa (poetry), Editions Mémoire (Port au Prince, Haiti), 2001.

Author of poetry collections published in French or French Creole. Contributor to periodicals, sometimes under pseudonym Jacques Lenoir.

SIDELIGHTS: Paul Laraque told CA: "My inspiration comes, first of all, from my desire to share my feelings and ideas with others, especially my wife, who symbolized love in my life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, December 17, 2001, review of Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry, p. 88.

World Literature Today, spring, 2002, Chris Waters, review of Open Gate, p. 129.