Emmelie Prophète (born June 5, 1971), also known as Emmelie Prophète Milcé, is a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an writer and diplomat. From November 2022 till April 2024, she served as the

justice minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

of Haiti.

Early life and education

Prophète was born in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

and studied law and modern literature at the Université de Port-au-Prince and communications at

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a Public university, public Historically Black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and ...

. Prophète has also hosted a jazz program on Radio-Haïti. She has served as director of the Haiti Direction Nationale du Livre and the Bureau haïtien du droit d’auteur.

Literary career

Prophète has published two books of poetry and six novels. She has contributed to various periodicals such as ''Chemins Critiques'', ''Boutures'', ''Cultura'', ''La

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

'' and '' Le Nouvelliste''. Her novel ''Le Testament des solitudes'' won the Grand Prix littéraire de l’Association des écrivains de langue française in 2009. It became the first novel of hers to be published in English when, translated by Tina Kover and with the English title ''Blue'', it was published by

Amazon Publishing Amazon Publishing (or simply APub) is Amazon's book publishing unit launched in 2009. It is composed of 15 imprints including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, and Topple Books. Amazon publishes e-books ...

's translation imprint, AmazonCrossing, in January 2022. Her 2020 novel, ''Les Villages de Dieu'' (English: ''The Villages of God'') won the 2022 Carbet de Lycéens.

Government career

Prophète served as an

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

at the embassy in Haiti and in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. In 2014, she was named head of the National Library of Haiti. In January 2022, the acting prime minister of Haiti,

Ariel Henry Ariel Henry (; born 6 November 1949) is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who served as the acting Prime Minister of Haiti, prime minister of Haiti from Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 until his r ...

, appointed her Minister of Culture and Communication. Henry then named Prophète as justice minister in November 2022, making her Haiti's fifth justice minister since the July 2021

assassination of Jovenel Moïse Jovenel Moïse, the 43rd president of Haiti, was assassinated on 7 July 2021 at 1:00 am EDT (UTC−04:00) at his residence in Port-au-Prince. A group of 28 foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, are alleged to be responsible for the ki ...

Selected works

Source: * ''Des marges à remplir'', poetry (2000) * ''Sur parure d’ombre'', poetry (2004) * ''Le Testament des solitudes'', novel (2007), received the

Prix littéraire des Caraïbes The Prix littéraire des Caraïbes (''Caribbean Literary Prize'') is a French literary award which was created in 1964 by l’Association des Écrivains de langue française (Association of French language writers). The award honors a writer from ...

from the ** Published as ''Blue'' in English in 2022 * ''Le reste du temps'', novel (2010) * ''Impasse Dignité'', novel (2012) * ''Le désir est un visiteur silencieux'', novel (2014) * ''Le bout du monde est une fenêtre'', novel (2015) * ''Les Villages de Dieu'', novel (2020)

References

1971 births Living people Haitian women poets Haitian journalists Jackson State University alumni People from Port-au-Prince Haitian women novelists 21st-century Haitian novelists 21st-century Haitian poets 21st-century Haitian women writers {{Haiti-writer-stub Female justice ministers Justice ministers of Haiti