The Power of Storytelling

“Every mentor you want is in the library,” award-winning author Edwidge Danticat and guest speaker of this year’s Anne Healy lecture, told the RPCS Middle School and Upper School students during her visit to campus in April 2022. She shared profound insights into reading and writing, including how the imagination is an incredible survival mechanism and how so many of us read to feel less alone. She also shared details about her life, from her childhood in Haiti during the Duvalier dictatorship to her arrival in new York at age 12 to be reunited with parents she barely knew, to writing the first lines of an essay in high school, which led to her first novel Breath, Eyes, Memory. Throughout it all, her faith in the power of storytelling has remained her guide.

 

After meeting with the seventh and eighth graders for informal Q&As, Ms. Danticat shared a visual presentation of her life and career with the Upper Schoolers and read from one of her short stories, “Legends,” before answering questions from the students. During the evening presentation, she read excerpts from “Everything Inside,” her book of short stories that focus on the themes of diaspora and love, and spoke with the audience about her writing process, her favorite form of writing, and how she finds comfort in telling stories. “For me, the page is absolute freedom,” Ms. Danticat told the Upper Schoolers. And she encouraged others to write as well. “Even if nobody else will see it, always aim to be vulnerable and share your biggest truths.”

 

 

Ms. Danticat is the author of numerous books, including Claire of the Sea Light, a New York Times notable book; Brother, I’m Dying, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist; Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; The Dew Breaker, a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and winner of the inaugural Story Prize; and Everything Inside, a Reese’s Book Club pick and winner of the Story Prize. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and elsewhere. The entire community was enamored with Ms. Danticat’s intelligence, humor and warmth and her visit will make a lasting impression on students and faculty alike.

 

The Anne Healy endowment was created to honor Miss Healy, who served as the Head of School for 25 years, from 1950 to 1975. A special day is set aside each year and a distinguished person in the field of letters is invited to meet and work with groups of students during the school day and to present an evening program for students, faculty and members of the larger school community.