“Most of the stories I know I got from my mother, who was herself a storyteller,” said Haitian writer and storyteller Jessica Fievre in a heavy French accent during her lecture in a crowded Farrell Room at St Michael’s Wednesday. Fievre spoke on “Writing Haiti: Myth, Culture, and Creativity” to a few dozen students, faculty, and locals.

Currently living in Florida, the Port-au-Prince-area native is the author of several mystery novels and children’s books in French and English. Suspense, mystery, voodoo, Haitian legends, and politics are just a few of the topics of her short stories.

Fievre emphasized the importance of Haitian myths and legends in the culture’s storytelling. “Every culture has its myths, and there is a function to myths,” Fievre said.

“[Haiti] has a very rich history of legends and myths,” she said, “so people often wonder how much of it do we, Haitians, really believe?” She emphasized that storytelling is not meant to be understood literally, but intended to enable listeners and readers to learn from it’s messages.

As the audience’s attention remained undivided, Fievre argued that one must understand others’ stories in order to understand one’s own.

She concluded her lecture by reading “A Year and a Day,” a story of hope based on a legend from Haiti about what happens to the soul after someone passes away. Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian novelist, wrote the story for The New Yorker.

“I have a role as a Haitian writer to use the myths and legends in a way that shows respect of where I came from,” Fievre said, “and to be true to myself.”