Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d'Argent (; 12 April 1936 – 20 February 2025), known by his pen name Frankétienne, was a Haitian writer, poet, playwright, and painter. He is recognized as one of Haiti's leading writers and playwrights in both French and Haitian Creole, and is "known as the father of Haitian letters". He was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009, made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Letters), and was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2010.
Life and career
Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d'Argent was born in Ravine-Sèche, a small village in Haiti. His mother, Annette Étienne, a black Haitian, was 16 when she gave birth to him, and his father, Benjamin Lyles, a wealthy white American, was 63. His father then abandoned the family.
Writing
He attended the Institute of Higher International Studies in Haiti, where he was taught by Pradel Pompilus and Ghislain Gouraige. There, he first began writing poetry around 1960. He published his first texts – Au fils du temps, La marche, Mon côté gauche, and Vigie et verre in 1964 to 1965. His first novel, Mûr à crever, was published in 1968. He was known as one of the main figures of the Haitian literary movement ,
In 1975, he published Dézafi (widely considered to be the first modern novel written entirely in Haitian Creole), and from 1977 onwards he worked in theater, producing the works Trofouban (1977), Pèlin-tèt (1978), Bobomasouri (1984), Kaselezo (1985), and Totolomannwe (1986).
- Candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature (2009) The circumstances of his death were not announced. He was survived by his wife, Marie-Andrée Étienne, his son Rudolphe, and his daughter Stéphane.
Selected works
- Au Fil du Temps (1964)
- H'Eros-Chimères (2002)