Tracing a loose arc from Edwidge Danticat’s childhood to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent events in Haiti, the essays gathered in We’re Alone include personal narrative, reportage, and tributes to mentors and heroes such as Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Gabriel García Márquez, and James Baldwin that explore several abiding themes: environmental catastrophe, the traumas of colonialism, motherhood, and the complexities of resilience.
 
From hurricanes to political violence, from her days as a new student at a Brooklyn elementary school knowing little English to her account of a shooting hoax at a Miami mall, Danticat has an extraordinary ability to move from the personal to the global and back again. Throughout, literature and art prove to be her reliable companions and guides through both tragedies and triumphs.
 
Danticat is an irresistible presence on the page: full of heart, outrage, humor, clear thinking, and moral questioning, while reminding us of the possibilities of community. We’re Alone is a book that asks us to think through some of the world’s intractable problems while deepening our understanding of one of the most significant novelists at work today.

BIO

Edwidge Danticat is the author of We’re Alone (forthcoming September 2024), Everything Inside, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction, and The Art of Death, a National Book Critics Award finalist in criticism. She lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.

REVIEWS

“These pieces represent [Danticat’s] outstretched hand, an invitation to spend shared time in reflection. . . . These are clearly the essays of an accomplished novelist.” --Wendy S. Walters, Los Angeles Times

“[Danticat writes] with heart, humor, and outrage.” -- Shannon Carlin, Time’s “Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024”

“Deeply felt, incisively reported, and lyrically composed . . . all movingly illuminated with Danticat's signature empathy, precision, and artistry.” -- Donna Seaman, Booklist

“Piercing . . . Danticat remains in full command of her considerable talents.” --Publishers Weekly, starred review

[H]  Graywolf Press  /  September 03, 2024

0.8" H x 7.5" L x 5.5" W (0.65 lbs) 192 pages