The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) reported 3,884 killings and injuries related to gang violence in the first six months of the year.
The 30th edition of the Livres en Folie book fair took place in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on August 15, 2024, a date postponed from May when civil unrest marked by escalating gang-fueled insecurity causing many deaths and displacement of more than 600,000 people. The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) reported 3,884 killings and injuries related to gang violence in the first six months of the year.
“We have just gone through a difficult year for everyone, but also difficult for publishing houses, printing companies, and especially for authors,” said Max Chauvet, one of the organizers, during the event’s launch conference on Monday. “Producing a book currently is a challenge, it’s a fight, a way of the cross.”
It was against this backdrop that Le Nouvelliste and Unibank, the two companies organised the annual book festival, which for the first time had no guest of honour.
For those who could not attend the event in person, online sales began on August 12 on the event’s official site, enabling residents of six provincial towns (Jérémie, Jacmel, Cap-Haïtien, Limbé, Ouanaminthe, and Les Cayes) to purchase and collect their books from collection points.
Read more about Haiti’s Livres en Folie here, here and here.
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.
