This event will introduce the larger Haitian community of Cambridge and Somerville to the well-known writer, Gary Victor, who will discuss the role of literature and citizenship in Haiti's current political turmoil. Gary Victor is a Haitian writer, playwright, and scriptwriter for television and radio. His radio sketches and the uncompromising tone of his television series on the manners of the Haitian bourgeoisie provoke controversy and discussion. The event will be moderated by poet, literary, and social critic, Dr. Patrick Sylvain. Sponsored by the Cambridge Public Library.

Patrick Sylvain is a Haitian-American poet, writer, social and literary critic, and photographer who has published widely on Haiti and Haitian diaspora culture, politics, language, and religion. He is the author of several poetry books in English and Haitian, and his poems have been nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. He is published in several anthologies, academic journals, books, magazines and reviews including: African American Review, Agni, American Poetry Review, Callaloo, Chicago Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Transition, and The Caribbean Writer. Sylvain has degrees from the University of Massachusetts (B.A.), Harvard University (Ed.M.), Boston University (MFA), and Brandeis University (PhD, English) where he was the Shirle Dorothy Robbins Creative Writing Prize Fellow. Sylvain has served as a lecturer at Brown University, Harvard University, and Brandeis University. Sylvain is an Assistant Professor in Global /Transnational / and Postcolonial Literature at Simmons University, and also serves as a member of the History and Literature Tutorial Board at Harvard.