Unbroken Nostalgia

Unbroken Nostalgia: Haitian Krey?l Poetry in Cuba is an original English translation and scholarly edition of the collection Nostalji san pwen ni vigil: pwezi krey?l nan peyi Kiba (2016) by Haitian Cuban poet, journalist, and language activist Hilario Batista F?lix. Batista (1955- ) embodies and expresses Cuba's cultural and linguistic diversity as a descendant of Haitian migrant workers to Eastern Cuba during the mid-twentieth century; his poems bridge regions usually separated by language--the Spanish and Creolophone/Francophone Caribbean--and vividly depict the distinct heritage of Haitian Cubans and their shared dreams and challenges. Grounded in oral storytelling traditions, Unbroken Nostalgia brings to light the collective memory and complicated hybridity of the Haitian community in Cuba and upholds Haitian Krey?l as a language of resistance. Batista's collection depicts a transnational, imagined homeland serving as spiritual anchor for Haitians throughout the global diaspora. A scholarly introduction by translator and editor Mariana F. Past provides biographical information about the author, situates his work within the Caribbean socio-cultural context and Haitian diasporic literature, and addresses patterns of Haitian migration to Cuba. Batista's original Krey?l poems appear alongside original, facing-page English translations. Annotations clarify historical figures and events, geographical features, and Haitian cultural and religious practices. Unbroken Nostalgia helps to expand the corpus of diasporic Haitian literature and contributes to an emerging Caribbean counter-canon.