Maurice Alfrédo Sixto (May 23, 1919,

Gonaïves Gonaïves (; also Les Gonaïves; , ) is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. The population was 356,324 at the 2015 census. History The city of Gonaïves was founded around 1422 by a group of T ...

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 ...

– May 12, 1984,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, USA) was a pioneer of a Haitian oral literary genre known as Lodyans, and distributed his works widely through the audio technology of his time, including LP's and cassettes . To this day Sixto remains the best known author in the genre. He was also a professor, ambassador, translator, and tour guide. The son of an engineer, Maurice Alfredo Sixto and Maria Bourand, he attended St Louis de Gonzague in Port-au-Prince for his secondary studies. Upon graduation he attended ''l'Academie Militaire'' where he remained for only three months. He eventually studied law at the ''Faculte de Droit'' from 1945–1948 while working for Radio HHBM (now MBC). Sixto is remembered in

Haitian culture The culture of Haiti is a creolized blend of African, European and Taino elements due to the French colonization of Amerindian land (which was then renamed Saint-Domingue), in conjunction with the large diverse enslaved African population w ...

for his contributions to oral literature. His ability to use rich, descriptive, and iconic

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; , ; , ), or simply Creole (), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it ...

idioms and expressions create a narrative that displays the true face of Haitian culture. Sixto prefaces every story with ''Regards sur choses et gens entendu'' (Regarding Things Seen and People Heard). In 2018, Sixto, his work and legacy were the subject of an academic colloquium in Port-au-Prince. Sixto's influences in the Lodyans genre include

Justin Lhérisson Justin Lhérisson (10 February 1873, in Port-au-Prince – 15 November 1907) was a Haitian writer, lawyer, journalist, and teacher. He is best known for two novels, ''La Famille des Pititecaille'' (1905) and ''Zoune Chez sa Ninnaine'' (1906), and f ...

while his successors include Charlot Lucien.

Published work

* Volume I: Lea Kokoyé; Madan Ròròl * Volume II: Zabèlbòk Berachat; Bòs Chaleran * Volume III: Ti Sentaniz; Madan Senvilus; Lòk Tama; Pè Tanmba * Volume IV: Gwo Moso; Ti Kam; Tant Mezi; Ronma lan ekspò; Priyè devan katedral * Volume V: J'ai vengé la race; Dépestre; Le corallin du Célibataire; Les ambassadeurs à Kinshasa * Volume VI: Madan Jul; Ton chal; L'homme citron; Men yon lòt lang; Pleyonas; Téofil; Le jeune agronome; Général Ti Kòk; La petite veste de galerie de Papa
Leya Kokoye ak lòt lodyans
Presses Nationales D'Haiti, 2005. Today, the ''Foyer Maurice Sixto'', honors his work and social commentary found in ''Ti Sentanize'', where Sixto derides his fellow bourgeosie countrymen for their abuse and forced labor of domestic children servants also referred to as Restavecs.

References

External links

Fondation Maurice SixtoHaiti's hidden 'child slaves'

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

At a glance: Haiti

Unicef UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sixto Maurice 1919 births 1984 deaths Haitian male short story writers Haitian short story writers Haitian male novelists Tour guides 20th-century Haitian novelists 20th-century Haitian male writers