By The Haitian Times
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The writer Yanick Lahens has received the insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honor, the highest honor awarded by France, Le Nouvelliste reported.
French Ambassador to Haiti, Fabrice Mauriès, awarded the honor to Lahens Feb. 25 during a gathering at his private residence in Bourdon, as other writers looked on.
The award is the first rank in France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor, which has been awarded for centuries to people accomplished in their fields.
Ambassador Mauriès praised Lahens for her work as he retraced the long journey of the Haitian novelist. From her exile in France at the age of 15, through her studies of literature at the Sorbonne, her return to her native country and her teaching as a professor at the École Normale Supérieure. The ambassador also spoke of Lahens’s participation in the introducing Creole into the Haitian education system.
Lahens was recently a member of the first board of directors of La Fondation pour la Memoire de l’Esclavage, French for the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery.
Haitian Louis-Philippe Dalembert recipient Choice Goncourt of Belgium 2021 for “Milwaukee Blues.”
Louis-Philippe Dalembert wins the 6th edition of the Choice Goncourt of Belgium with Milwaukee Blues
An award ceremony will take place on Mar. 24 in Brussels.
