Emmelie Prophète Discusses Cécé with Jessica Rankin
BPL Presents welcomes poet, novelist, diplomat, and activist Emmelie Prophète to discuss her new book Cécé. She will be in conversation with artist Jessica Rankin. The discussion will also include a special appearance by local chef Nadege Fleurimond.
Cécé La Flamme, as she’s known by her loyal Facebook friends, captures photographs of still bodies. Figures scorched and bruised, left to the rubble of the Cité of Divine Power. When she posts an image of a corpse, Cécé’s followers skyrocket. “Nothing got more attention than a good corpse that was nice and warm or already rotting.” Just beside visions of rot and neglect, she posts pictures of her toes, gullies crisscrossing the cité, and her own lips painted blue. With every image, Cécé seeks control and wants to create a frank, intimate record of the terror in her cité.
Cécé’s world begins and ends with the cite—a slum peopled by gangs, yelping kids, grandmothers, junkies, and preachers. The very gate that encloses the cité was constructed by militant gang members. First boss Freddy, then Joël, then Jules César rule the gang that holds the cité in a chokehold. Sharp, sincere, and desperate, Cécé cleaves life for herself out of social media, sex work, and attempts at friendship with other women. When an American journalist offers to buy the rights to Cécé’s photographs, she demands double the cash. When an abusive former client dies, she wears hot pink to his funeral.
Emmelie Prophète’s novel is fierce, devastating, and suggestive—a record of a woman clawing back control.
Food and refreshments will be provided by BunNan BK. Please RSVP in advance—registration is required.
PARTICIPANTS
Emmelie Prophète, born in 1971 in Port-au-Prince, is a poet, novelist, diplomat, and activist. She is the author of two poetry collections and six novels, the first of which won the Grand Prix littéraire de l’Association des écrivains de langue française. Cécé, published in French as Les Villages de Dieu, was awarded the Prix Fetkann Maryse Condé Prize in 2021. Prophète, a former director of the National Library of Haiti, lives in Port-au-Prince.
Jessica Rankin was born in 1971 in Sydney, Australia. She lives and works in New York. Notable exhibitions include White Cube Hong Kong, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, and MoMA PS1, New York.
Nadege Fleurimond is the author and culinary adventurer behind projects like Haiti Uncovered, the Haiti Uncovered Culinary Tour, and BunNan, a Caribbean-inspired, plantain-forward eatery.
