Author Guide · Literary Fiction
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Edwidge Danticat was two when her father left Port-au-Prince for New York, and twelve when she followed him to Brooklyn; in between she was raised by her uncle Joseph, a pastor in the Bel Air neighbourhood. She published her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, in 1994, at twenty-five, and the next year her story collection Krik? Krak! was a finalist for the National Book Award. Since then she has written novels, stories, memoir and essays, almost all of them about Haiti and the Haitians who left it, and has won the National Book Critics Circle Award twice and the Story Prize twice. This guide covers her 11 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 1994–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Edwidge Danticat has written about 19 books. Her best known are Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), an Oprah’s Book Club pick in 1998, The Farming of Bones (1998), The Dew Breaker (2004) and the memoir Brother, I’m Dying (2007). Start with Breath, Eyes, Memory; her newest novel, Dèy, came out in August 2026.
Where to Start with Edwidge Danticat
If you want her first and best-known novel
→ Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) — a girl leaves Haiti to join the mother she barely knows.
If you want history told as fiction
→ The Farming of Bones (1998) — the 1937 massacre of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
If you want stories that add up to a novel
→ The Dew Breaker (2004) — a former torturer living quietly in Brooklyn.
If you want true family history
→ Brother, I’m Dying (2007) — her father and her uncle, both dying in 2004.
11 Edwidge Danticat Books, in Order
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Sophie Caco is raised by her aunt in rural Haiti until, at twelve, she is sent to New York to live with her mother Martine, whom she hardly remembers. The novel follows three generations of women and the damage done by the practice of “testing” daughters for virginity. Danticat published it at twenty-five; Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club in 1998.
Krik? Krak!
Linked stories named after the call-and-response that opens a Haitian storytelling session. They range from “Children of the Sea”, letters between a young couple, one of them on a refugee boat, to “Caroline’s Wedding”, set among Haitian Americans in New York. It was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1995.
The Farming of Bones
Amabelle Désir, a Haitian maid working for a Dominican family near the border, is caught up in the 1937 massacre of Haitians ordered by the dictator Rafael Trujillo. The novel follows her flight across the river and her attempt, years later, to have what she saw recorded.
The Dew Breaker
A barber in Brooklyn turns out to have been a torturer for the Duvalier regime in 1960s Haiti. The book moves between his daughter Ka, a sculptor who learns the truth, his wife, and the people whose lives he broke. It won the first Story Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
Brother, I’m Dying
The story of her two fathers: her father Mira, a gypsy-cab driver in New York who was dying of pulmonary fibrosis in 2004, and his brother Joseph, the pastor who raised her in Port-au-Prince. In November 2004 Joseph, aged 81, fled to Miami, asked for asylum and died days later in the custody of US immigration officials. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography and was a National Book Award finalist.
Create Dangerously
Essays on what it means to make art as an immigrant from a country in crisis, starting from the public execution of two Haitian dissidents in 1964 and moving through artists, writers and her own family.
Claire of the Sea Light
On her seventh birthday Claire, the daughter of a poor fisherman in the seaside town of Ville Rose, disappears on the night he finally decides to give her away. The novel moves back through the lives of the townspeople connected to her. It was a New York Times Notable Book.
The Art of Death
A book about how writers have written about dying, built around the death of her own mother from cancer. Danticat reads Tolstoy, Toni Morrison and others alongside her mother’s last months. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Everything Inside
Stories set mostly among Haitians in Miami’s Little Haiti and back on the island, about families, lovers and friends making decisions under pressure. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and the Story Prize, making Danticat the first writer to win that prize twice.
We’re Alone
Essays on Haiti, migration, motherhood and grief. Among them is her account of a day at a mall when sounds like gunfire set off a panic; the shots turned out to be a recording, and she later returned to the episode in fiction.
Dèy
Her first novel for adults since Claire of the Sea Light. A Haitian American mother in Miami survives a mass shooting and lives with its aftershocks, in a story set between Miami and Brooklyn with Haiti always in view. It was published in August 2026 and is a finalist for the National Book Award, her third time on that list.
In What Order to Read Edwidge Danticat
None of her books continues another, so you can read them in any order. Publication order does show a shift: the early novels and stories go back to Haiti, its dictatorships and its 1937 massacre; the later work settles in the diaspora, in Brooklyn and Miami, and turns increasingly to grief and to her own family.
Read Brother, I’m Dying after one of the novels: it is the true story behind many of the separations and departures in her fiction. Create Dangerously and The Art of Death work best once you know her fiction, because they explain how she thinks about writing it.
A reading path
1. Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994)
2. Krik? Krak! (1995)
3. The Farming of Bones (1998)
4. Brother, I’m Dying (2007)
5. Everything Inside (2019)
Everything Else Edwidge Danticat Published
Beyond the 11 key books: 8 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Nonfiction
1
1 book · 2002
- 2002After the Dancea walk through Carnival in Jacmel, Haiti
Books for children and young adults
7
7 books · 2002–2019
- 2002Behind the Mountainsa young-adult novel about a girl who moves from Haiti to New York
- 2005Anacaona, Golden Flowerthe diary of a Taíno queen, for young readers
- 2010Eight Daysa picture book set during the 2010 Haiti earthquake
- 2013The Last Mapoua picture book
- 2015Mama’s Nightingalea picture book about a mother held in immigration detention
- 2015Untwinea young-adult novel about a twin after a car accident
- 2019My Mommy Medicinea picture book
The years · 1969–2026
Quick facts about Edwidge Danticat
- Known for
- Edwidge Danticat is known for fiction and memoir about Haiti and its diaspora, from the dictatorships and the 1937 massacre to Haitian families in Brooklyn and Miami.
- 1969
- Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- 1981
- Joins her parents in Brooklyn
- 2009
- MacArthur Fellowship
- 2018
- Neustadt International Prize for Literature
- 2026
- Dèy
- Born
- 19 January 1969, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- Moved
- To Brooklyn at twelve, to join her parents
- Education
- Barnard College (French literature, 1990); MFA, Brown University (1993)
- Lives
- Miami, where she moved in 2000
- Teaches
- Columbia University, Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities
- Honours
- MacArthur Fellowship (2009), Neustadt Prize (2018), PEN/Nabokov Award (2026)
- Married
- Faidherbe “Fedo” Boyer, in 2002
The red mark is 1994: Breath, Eyes, Memory, the first novel she published, at twenty-five.
How Edwidge Danticat Writes: Haiti, From Inside and Outside
Danticat writes from both sides of the departure. Her characters are almost always Haitian, either in Haiti or recently arrived in New York or Miami, and the central event is usually a separation: a daughter sent to a mother she does not know in Breath, Eyes, Memory, a couple split by a refugee boat in Krik? Krak!, an uncle dying in immigration detention in Brother, I’m Dying.
She often builds a book from linked pieces rather than one continuous plot. Krik? Krak! and The Dew Breaker are stories that add up to a larger picture, and Claire of the Sea Light circles a single night through different townspeople. Political violence, from the Duvalier years to Trujillo’s massacre, is usually shown through what it does to one household rather than told as history.
Her nonfiction is unusually close to her fiction. Brother, I’m Dying tells the family story behind much of her early work, and We’re Alone contains the incident she later turned into the novel Dèy. In her essays she keeps returning to the same question: what a writer owes to the people and the country she writes about.
Watch
An Interview with Edwidge Danticat
In this 2005 episode of UCTV’s Voices series, Danticat talks with Marlene Racine-Toussaint about her childhood in Haiti and the influences on her writing.
Frequently asked questions about Edwidge Danticat’s books
How many books has Edwidge Danticat written?
About 19. Eleven are the key books on this page, from Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) to Dèy (2026); the other eight are one travel book, After the Dance (2002), and seven books for children and young adults.
What are Edwidge Danticat’s books in order?
Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), Krik? Krak! (1995), The Farming of Bones (1998), The Dew Breaker (2004), Brother, I’m Dying (2007), Create Dangerously (2010), Claire of the Sea Light (2013), The Art of Death (2017), Everything Inside (2019), We’re Alone (2024) and Dèy (2026).
Where should I start with Edwidge Danticat?
With Breath, Eyes, Memory, her first novel, about a girl who leaves Haiti at twelve to join her mother in New York. If you prefer short fiction, start with Krik? Krak!; if you prefer true stories, with Brother, I’m Dying.
What is Edwidge Danticat’s most famous book?
Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), which reached a wide audience when Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club in 1998. Among critics, The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breaker and Brother, I’m Dying are equally well known.
What is The Farming of Bones about?
The 1937 massacre of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, ordered by the dictator Rafael Trujillo. It is told by Amabelle Désir, a Haitian maid working for a Dominican family, who escapes across the river into Haiti. It won an American Book Award.
What is Brother, I’m Dying about?
Danticat’s father Mira and his brother Joseph, the uncle who raised her in Port-au-Prince. In 2004 her father was dying of pulmonary fibrosis in New York, and Joseph, aged 81, fled to Miami, asked for asylum and died days later in the custody of US immigration officials. The memoir won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography.
What awards has Edwidge Danticat won?
The National Book Critics Circle Award twice (for Brother, I’m Dying and Everything Inside), the Story Prize twice (for The Dew Breaker and Everything Inside), an American Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship in 2009, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2018 and the PEN/Nabokov Award in 2026. She has been a National Book Award finalist three times.
Is Edwidge Danticat still alive?
Yes. She was born on 19 January 1969 in Port-au-Prince, lives in Miami and teaches at Columbia University. Her most recent novel, Dèy, was published in August 2026.
What is Dèy about?
A Haitian American mother in Miami who survives a mass shooting and has to live with its aftermath, in a story set between Miami and Brooklyn. It is Danticat’s first novel for adults since Claire of the Sea Light (2013) and a 2026 National Book Award finalist.
Does Edwidge Danticat write for children?
Yes. She has written seven books for children and young adults, including the young-adult novels Behind the Mountains (2002) and Untwine (2015), and the picture book Mama’s Nightingale (2015).
Footnotes
- Edwidge Danticat — EBSCO Research Starters
- Brother, I’m Dying — NEA Big Read
- Edwidge Danticat is the first two-time winner of the Story Prize — Lit Hub
- In new memoir, Edwidge Danticat — Democracy Now!, 2007
- The New York Times gives double exposure to Danticat’s new novel — Columbia University, 2026
- Edwidge Danticat biography — BookBrowse
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“When you write, it’s like braiding your hair.”
— Edwidge Danticat, Krik? Krak! (1995), “Epilogue: Women Like Us”
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