Yanick Lahens Selected for the Grand Prix du Roman 2025; A Bright Spark in the Heavy Night!

Sometimes, amidst the clamor of trials and the weight of days, an unexpected piece of news emerges like a live ember. Yanick Lahens' selection for the Grand Prix du Roman 2025, with *Passagères de nuit*, in addition to her nomination for the Prix Goncourt, is one such instance. This is not merely literary recognition: it is a breach opened in the gloom, a breath that cuts through our collective weariness. Literature, with its power of evocation, restores to us a territory of clarity where imagination serves as both refuge and springboard. In a country ravaged by turmoil, every gesture of light, however faint, becomes a sign of resistance and pride. And I, a Haitian citizen and former student of Madame Lahens at the École Normale Supérieure, am so proud and I say: thank you Yanick, thank you for Haiti. This distinction does not belong solely to Yanick Lahens; it reflects upon an entire community, upon a dispersed but always vibrant memory. It reminds us that, even exiled or hindered, our voices persist in crossing borders, in rising against erasure. In the shadow of time, *Passagères de nuit* becomes a banner of hope. Yves Lafortune,
Brickell City, October 2, 2025