Twin Cities author releases children’s books celebrating Haitian language and music
Djenane Saint Juste self-published two children's books in three languages: Haitian Creole, French and English.
Courtesy of Djenane Saint Juste
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On Saturday a Twin Cities arts educator is sharing two children’s books she self-published in three languages: English, French and Haitian Creole, or Kreyòl, as it’s spelled in Haiti. The latest book’s English title is “Ti Sonson and the Powers of the Drum.”
Djenane Saint Juste is the author of the book and founder of the organization Afoutayi. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about her work sharing Haitian culture through language, drumming and dance.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: This weekend, a local arts educator is sharing two children's books she self-published in three languages, English, French, and Haitian Creole. The latest book's English title is Ti Sonson and the Power of the Drum. We can hear a preview. Here's a clip from the introduction to the audio book.
SUBJECT 1: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
SUBJECT 2: My name is [INAUDIBLE] Torres. I am eight-years-old. I have the same first name as my late grandfather, which is why everyone calls me Ti Sonson.
CATHY WURZER: Djenane Saint Juste is the author of the book and founder of an organization working to share Haitian culture through language, drumming, and dance. She is on the line. Thank you for taking the time.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Thank you, Cathy. Thank you for having me at MPR and at your show today.
CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Thank you. Now, tell me about the books and what you're trying to do with them.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, I have two books. The first one is The Mermaid and the Whale, Lasiren ak Labalen. And it's a book about the mermaid that I wrote around a very traditional song from Haiti. And my second book, Ti Sonson ak pouvwa tanbou, they are both bilingual books, I will say.
They have three to four different languages. And the reason I am very passionate about both books is because they share this identity about Haiti, where I'm from, and also they promote languages and the way in a classroom, children can appreciate the background of being able to speak multiple languages.
CATHY WURZER: Why is it important? I'm glad you self-published. You published the physical book, but you also have this album with narration and songs. Tell me about that.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, it was very important for me because I have a background of teacher, and usually when I go in different schools, I don't see any representation of people that looks like me or my son. And also Creole is considered like a patois, and I'm trying to tell people, no, Creole is not a patois, it's not a broken French.
It's a language, like any other language, with power and story and passion. So that's one of the reasons I wanted to, in one book, having all three different languages. So people can see the beauty of Creole and be interested to learn it in the future.
CATHY WURZER: So tell me about folks in Haiti. Of course, they speak Haitian Creole. Was it forbidden at school?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Oh, yes. I grew up forbidden to speak or write Creole at school. So it was a later time and when I was a teenager, I learned how to write Creole on my own, and I'm still working on it. But I feel in a country where people feel, and think, and sleep, and dream about Creole, it shouldn't be prohibited.
It's still the colonization era into the identity of what a language bring. So that's why I feel it will be beneficial for children born in Haiti or all over the world to have Creole in their background. And school should work and the fact that they need to have Creole as a language in the educational system.
CATHY WURZER: Kind of like the language of the people in a sense.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Yes, yes. You're killing an identity of someone because even though I had the opportunity to go to a French immersion school, private school, but at home, the way I speak with my family was in Creole. The way I play with my friends is in Creole.
So it was translating Creole to French when I was at school. It wasn't natural. So the natural way of language for us, Haitian, is Creole.
CATHY WURZER: So I want to play another track that's tied to the book, if I could. It's called the Ti Sonson Team Song.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SINGING IN A NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Sorry about that. That's the Ti Sonson Team Song. That was hard to say. I'm listening to the drums in the background. Tell us, how do drums play into the traditional Haitian music and dance culture?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, first of all, this song was written by my mother, Florencia Pierre. And drums is like the cell phone of the country. It's one of the instruments who brought peace and revolution. And it was our way of communication from one mountain to the other. We use drum to communicate with each other.
And this beautiful instrument, people tend to forget about it. So the book, Ti Sonson ak Pouvwa Tanbou, is a way to calling back, hey, this instrument is important. It's our ancestral knowledge. We need to keep it alive and we need to share it with others. All instruments are important, but the drum have a very intimate relationship with us Haitian.
CATHY WURZER: You mentioned your mother. I'm so happy you brought your mom up. So I understand she had a dance company in Haiti.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Oh, yes. I am a result of JAKA, her dance company in Haiti, who did a lot of beautiful work preserving the traditional Haitian dance and culture costume drumming. So because of that, today, I'm an advocate for Haitian and Afro-Caribbean culture in Minnesota.
CATHY WURZER: So you teach Haitian drumming and dance. Who is in your classroom?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, in my classroom you find a very beautiful, diverse group of people from zero to 98-years-old.
[LAUGHTER]
CATHY WURZER: Good.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: They are drumming. They're dancing. They're singing. They're eating Haitian food. They're learning about the culture, and they're immersing themselves in finding connection as well.
CATHY WURZER: Is your studio still in Golden Valley? Are you looking for a different studio, a new space?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, unfortunately, we lose the studio because of zoning issue. And we had a contract of five years and then the Golden Valley city kick us out. And we are really in big need of a studio now because there's no studio, dance studio, in Minnesota that offered the type of dance and drumming we offer to the community. So it's been missing and we hope that some benefactor will come and help us find a studio where we can have our community classes.
CATHY WURZER: Final question for you. I know there are some events coming up this weekend to celebrate your books. Can you tell me about the book launch?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Oh, yes. It's going to be at the French Alliance. It's our second time collaborating with the book. So this Saturday, from 1:00 to 5:00 at the Alliance Francaise, AFOUTAYI will bring both books together, The Mermaid and the Whale, as well as Ti Sonson.
And we will have Haitian dance classes where my mom, my mother, Florencia Pierre, will teach and also I will teach. And we will have drumming classes and also conversation around both books. And we will have a wonderful performance where Alanna Morris and [INAUDIBLE] will perform and [? Annika, ?] as well, [INAUDIBLE].
So I'm very excited about it and I highly encourage everyone who are available this weekend to come and check it out, because Haitian culture is not really well represented sometimes in the community. So it's an opportunity to know what is Haiti, what we have to offer, and how we can collaborate together.
CATHY WURZER: Ah, I hear the passion for what you do in your voice.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: I do.
CATHY WURZER: Djenane, thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you and best of luck.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Thank you, Cathy. And I hope you keep dancing Ti Sonson while you are at the studio.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like fun. Thank you, Djenane Saint Juste is the founder of the arts organization AFOUTAYI. By the way, Sahan Journal, our friends at Sahan Journal published an article about her work. You can find it linked to our website, which, of course, is mprnews.org.
So, you know, the whole afternoon I've been watching NBC TV, I see Suni Lee is getting ready to do a routine. And she, I'm not going to say anything about this, I want you to watch it on your own maybe later tonight when you tune in.
Tomorrow here on the program, we're going to talk to a writer, a reporter who you may have read this article, New York Times article about Suni Lee and some of the challenges, I mean, really serious challenges, she faced after the Tokyo Olympics. It's a good read. The reporter from The New York Times is in Paris watching Suni right now.
So we'll find out a little bit more from her tomorrow on the show. I hope you have a good rest of the day. I hope you stay cool. It is definitely humid out there, warm and muggy. We'll check your local forecast here in just a moment. Thanks so much for listening to Minnesota Now here on MPR News.
SUBJECT 1: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
SUBJECT 2: My name is [INAUDIBLE] Torres. I am eight-years-old. I have the same first name as my late grandfather, which is why everyone calls me Ti Sonson.
CATHY WURZER: Djenane Saint Juste is the author of the book and founder of an organization working to share Haitian culture through language, drumming, and dance. She is on the line. Thank you for taking the time.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Thank you, Cathy. Thank you for having me at MPR and at your show today.
CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Thank you. Now, tell me about the books and what you're trying to do with them.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, I have two books. The first one is The Mermaid and the Whale, Lasiren ak Labalen. And it's a book about the mermaid that I wrote around a very traditional song from Haiti. And my second book, Ti Sonson ak pouvwa tanbou, they are both bilingual books, I will say.
They have three to four different languages. And the reason I am very passionate about both books is because they share this identity about Haiti, where I'm from, and also they promote languages and the way in a classroom, children can appreciate the background of being able to speak multiple languages.
CATHY WURZER: Why is it important? I'm glad you self-published. You published the physical book, but you also have this album with narration and songs. Tell me about that.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, it was very important for me because I have a background of teacher, and usually when I go in different schools, I don't see any representation of people that looks like me or my son. And also Creole is considered like a patois, and I'm trying to tell people, no, Creole is not a patois, it's not a broken French.
It's a language, like any other language, with power and story and passion. So that's one of the reasons I wanted to, in one book, having all three different languages. So people can see the beauty of Creole and be interested to learn it in the future.
CATHY WURZER: So tell me about folks in Haiti. Of course, they speak Haitian Creole. Was it forbidden at school?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Oh, yes. I grew up forbidden to speak or write Creole at school. So it was a later time and when I was a teenager, I learned how to write Creole on my own, and I'm still working on it. But I feel in a country where people feel, and think, and sleep, and dream about Creole, it shouldn't be prohibited.
It's still the colonization era into the identity of what a language bring. So that's why I feel it will be beneficial for children born in Haiti or all over the world to have Creole in their background. And school should work and the fact that they need to have Creole as a language in the educational system.
CATHY WURZER: Kind of like the language of the people in a sense.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Yes, yes. You're killing an identity of someone because even though I had the opportunity to go to a French immersion school, private school, but at home, the way I speak with my family was in Creole. The way I play with my friends is in Creole.
So it was translating Creole to French when I was at school. It wasn't natural. So the natural way of language for us, Haitian, is Creole.
CATHY WURZER: So I want to play another track that's tied to the book, if I could. It's called the Ti Sonson Team Song.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SINGING IN A NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Sorry about that. That's the Ti Sonson Team Song. That was hard to say. I'm listening to the drums in the background. Tell us, how do drums play into the traditional Haitian music and dance culture?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, first of all, this song was written by my mother, Florencia Pierre. And drums is like the cell phone of the country. It's one of the instruments who brought peace and revolution. And it was our way of communication from one mountain to the other. We use drum to communicate with each other.
And this beautiful instrument, people tend to forget about it. So the book, Ti Sonson ak Pouvwa Tanbou, is a way to calling back, hey, this instrument is important. It's our ancestral knowledge. We need to keep it alive and we need to share it with others. All instruments are important, but the drum have a very intimate relationship with us Haitian.
CATHY WURZER: You mentioned your mother. I'm so happy you brought your mom up. So I understand she had a dance company in Haiti.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Oh, yes. I am a result of JAKA, her dance company in Haiti, who did a lot of beautiful work preserving the traditional Haitian dance and culture costume drumming. So because of that, today, I'm an advocate for Haitian and Afro-Caribbean culture in Minnesota.
CATHY WURZER: So you teach Haitian drumming and dance. Who is in your classroom?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, in my classroom you find a very beautiful, diverse group of people from zero to 98-years-old.
[LAUGHTER]
CATHY WURZER: Good.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: They are drumming. They're dancing. They're singing. They're eating Haitian food. They're learning about the culture, and they're immersing themselves in finding connection as well.
CATHY WURZER: Is your studio still in Golden Valley? Are you looking for a different studio, a new space?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Well, unfortunately, we lose the studio because of zoning issue. And we had a contract of five years and then the Golden Valley city kick us out. And we are really in big need of a studio now because there's no studio, dance studio, in Minnesota that offered the type of dance and drumming we offer to the community. So it's been missing and we hope that some benefactor will come and help us find a studio where we can have our community classes.
CATHY WURZER: Final question for you. I know there are some events coming up this weekend to celebrate your books. Can you tell me about the book launch?
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Oh, yes. It's going to be at the French Alliance. It's our second time collaborating with the book. So this Saturday, from 1:00 to 5:00 at the Alliance Francaise, AFOUTAYI will bring both books together, The Mermaid and the Whale, as well as Ti Sonson.
And we will have Haitian dance classes where my mom, my mother, Florencia Pierre, will teach and also I will teach. And we will have drumming classes and also conversation around both books. And we will have a wonderful performance where Alanna Morris and [INAUDIBLE] will perform and [? Annika, ?] as well, [INAUDIBLE].
So I'm very excited about it and I highly encourage everyone who are available this weekend to come and check it out, because Haitian culture is not really well represented sometimes in the community. So it's an opportunity to know what is Haiti, what we have to offer, and how we can collaborate together.
CATHY WURZER: Ah, I hear the passion for what you do in your voice.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: I do.
CATHY WURZER: Djenane, thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you and best of luck.
DJENANE SAINT JUSTE: Thank you, Cathy. And I hope you keep dancing Ti Sonson while you are at the studio.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like fun. Thank you, Djenane Saint Juste is the founder of the arts organization AFOUTAYI. By the way, Sahan Journal, our friends at Sahan Journal published an article about her work. You can find it linked to our website, which, of course, is mprnews.org.
So, you know, the whole afternoon I've been watching NBC TV, I see Suni Lee is getting ready to do a routine. And she, I'm not going to say anything about this, I want you to watch it on your own maybe later tonight when you tune in.
Tomorrow here on the program, we're going to talk to a writer, a reporter who you may have read this article, New York Times article about Suni Lee and some of the challenges, I mean, really serious challenges, she faced after the Tokyo Olympics. It's a good read. The reporter from The New York Times is in Paris watching Suni right now.
So we'll find out a little bit more from her tomorrow on the show. I hope you have a good rest of the day. I hope you stay cool. It is definitely humid out there, warm and muggy. We'll check your local forecast here in just a moment. Thanks so much for listening to Minnesota Now here on MPR News.
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