The voice on the record
Maurice Alfredo Sixto was a pioneer of the Haitian oral literary genre known as lodyans. He carried his work to audiences through the audio technologies of his day — vinyl records and cassettes — and to this day he remains the most famous author in the form.
He was also a teacher, an ambassador, a translator and a tour guide.
Gonaïves to Port-au-Prince
The son of Maurice Alfredo Sixto, an engineer, and Maria Bourand, he completed his secondary education at Saint-Louis de Gonzague College in Port-au-Prince. After graduating he joined the Military Academy but left after three months. He then studied law at the Faculty of Law from 1945 to 1948, working at the same time for the radio station HHBM, now MBC.
What he did with Creole
Sixto is celebrated in Haitian culture for what he made of the spoken language. His command of Creole idiom — rich, evocative, instantly recognizable — let him build stories that revealed the true texture of Haitian life.
In 2018 a university conference in Port-au-Prince was devoted to Sixto, his work and his legacy.
A life in dates
- 1919Born in Gonaïves23 May, son of an engineer and Maria Bourand.
- 1945Law school and radioStudies at the Faculty of Law through 1948 while working for radio station HHBM, now MBC.
- 1984Died in Philadelphia12 May, in the United States.
- 2018A conference in his nameA university conference in Port-au-Prince examines his work and legacy.