Childhood: Born in 1969 near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Moved to New York City at age 12.
Education: Clara Barton High School, Brooklyn; Barnard College, New York; Brown University, Rhode Island.
Family: Husband Faidherbe (Fedo) Boyer, daughters Mira and Leila.
Selected fiction: "Breath, Eyes, Memory," "The Farming of Bones," "The Dew Breaker"; story collection "Krik? Krak!," two YA novels, short stories for the New Yorker.
Selected nonfiction: "Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work," "Brother, I' m Dying," a memoir.
Career: Has taught at universities in New York, Miami and Texas. Assisted filmmaker Jonathan Demme with a documentary on Haiti and served as associate producer on two other films.
Awards: MacArthur Genius Grant, American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, Langston Hughes Medal, two National Book Award nominations.
Working on: A YA novel. Hopes to tackle a graphic novel if she can find the right collaborator.
