Bio for amhe norfolk – your opinion
Marlène Rigaud Apollon was born in Cap-Haitien and grew up in Port-au-Prince where she studied at the Institution du Sacré-Coeur de Turgeau. She emigrated to the United States in 1964 and, after living in NY for a couple of years, settled with her husband in Maryland where they raised their 3 chidren, before retiring in Florida. Together, they have 8 grand-children.
Marlène graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and holds a Masters of Science (MS) degree in Creative Writing from Towson University also in Maryland.
She started publishing in 1986. Her writings, in French, English and Creole include poetry, Cris de Colère, Chants d’Espoir, I Want to Dance, “a story that cried out to be told,” (Jan Nelson Lucas, Towson University Alumni and Friends Magazine) and Si je n’avais que des regrets, as well as biographies, essays, and books for children. They have appeared in several newspapers, magazines and anthologies, such as Moun, Revue the Philosophie the latest, Haiti Rising (Liverpool University Press, 2010, ed, Martin Munro), a 2011 Book of the year finalist.
She has also re-edited and translated into English 2 historical and highty appreciated treasures, Louis Mercier, A la Reconquête de l’Idéal Haïtien, Une voix d’hier pour aujourd’hui et demain, a compilation of writings and speeches of her Historian and Educator grandfather, also in English, presented at “Livres en Folie”, Haiti, in June 2009 and La Mystique de la Citadelle/The Mystique of the Citadelle, that The Journal of Negro History, (Vol.31, No. 3, pp. 382-383) described as “the most comprehensive study of the Citadelle to date”
Since October 2010, she has been a regular contributor to Radio Solidarite (www.snaa.org – 1 712-432-6663) and to the Weekly electronic Bulletin of the National Center for Haitian Apostolate.
apollon.marlene@yahoo.com
www.marlenerigaudapollon.com
http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.en.ile/paroles/apollon.html