“A Conversation with Danielle Boursiquot of BCLF 2019 Emergent Writer’s Short Story Competition” by Mellany P was published in New York Carib News (October 27, 2019). [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Here we share excerpts from Mellany P’s interview with Danielle Boursiquot.

As part of the ongoing CARIBLit series about everything books, we are sharing the shortlisted short story winners from last September’s Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. Catch the interview below with writer, Danielle Boursiquot who comes from Haitian parentage. Read Danielle’s BCLF short story entry, “Yellow” HERE.

Share with us a little bit of your background.

I am a Brooklyn girl born of Haitian immigrant parents.

When did you start writing, and how did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

I started crafted poems in the second grade and moved on to short stories in high school. By college, there were too many stories in me to contain and I knew I had to they had to pour out like blood, or tears.

Do you prefer the novel or the short story, and why?

I love a good short story and do enjoy the challenge of writing one, but the novel is where I find my heart, cut it out, and watch a new one grow.

What is your connection to the Caribbean? Do you have a favorite saying from Caribbean culture?

My connection to the Caribbean is my family, my culture, the spirit that follows me no matter how far I roam.

One of my favorite Kreyol sayings is “Dèyè mòn, gen mòn” (Behind mountains, there are mountains) In one way it can mean that after one struggle, there is always another. But I can think it can also mean that after one lesson, there is always another one. There’s always something more to learn.

Do you have a favorite Caribbean/Caribbean-descended writer? We would love to learn about a storyteller from your island whose writing has left an impact/impression on you (poet/oral storyteller/griot included)

I discovered René Dépestre near the end of high school when I wrote a book report for Hadriana Dans Tous Mes Rèves (Hadriana in All My Dreams). I think this is when I was definitively drawn to the style of magical realism. It was a thrill to confuse the lines of what was real and what wasn’t, and to be believed.

[. . .]

For full interview, see https://www.nycaribnews.com/articles/a-conversation-with-danielle-boursiquot-shortlisted-short-story