Danticat is the first Haitian woman to compose a novel entirely in English, and she is also the first author to bring the Haitian/American experience to American literature. Edwidge Danticat is an award-winning Haitian-born writer who now lives in Miami. In *Brother, I'm Dying*, she told the devastating story of her 81-year-old uncle, Reverend Joseph Dantica's death in the custody of immigration officials. He had arrived from Haiti seeking political asyslum following threats on his life. Denied his medicines and accused of faking an illness, he died just days after his detention. Her latest book, *Create Dangerously*, reflects on her responsibility as an immigrant artist in the United States toward her native country, especially at this time when impoverished Haiti is suffering the devastation of earthquake and disease.

Colson Whitehead was born in New York City. His first novel, *The Intuitionist*, won the QPB New Voices Award and was an Ernest Hemingway/PEN Award finalist. His second novel, *John Henry Days*, was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. He is also the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award. Whitehead lives in Brooklyn, New York.