Official Launch of the René Depestre Year by the National Book Directorate

The Ministry of Culture and the National Book Directorate (DNL) officially launched the René Depestre Year on Thursday, September 25, 2025, during a ceremony held at the Kinam II hotel. The event, in the form of a cocktail reception and exhibition, brought together several public figures, cultural actors, and members of the diplomatic corps who came to honor the centenarian Haitian poet.

This initiative is part of a series of activities scheduled from August 29, 2025, to August 29, 2026, to celebrate the writer. The program includes: conferences, exhibitions, screenings, recitals, re-editions and distributions of works, competitions, literary games and challenges, as well as Creole translations of emblematic texts. The activities will take place in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and also in several foreign countries.

In his speech, the representative of the Minister of Culture recalled that this tribute aims to « recognize during his lifetime René Depestre's considerable contribution to Haitian and world literature. » He also emphasized the importance of bringing younger generations closer to his work, marked by a constant commitment to justice, fraternity, and freedom.

The inaugural exhibition presented at Kinam traced, through photographs, manuscripts, and rare documents, the different stages of Depestre's journey, from his beginnings in Haiti to his international commitments.

For the Director General of the National Book Directorate, Ernst Saint Louis, this year of celebration is an opportunity to reaffirm the place of literature in the country's cultural life and to discover or rediscover the work of an an author whose influence extends far beyond Haitian borders.