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The UMass community is invited to attend “Poésies Créoles & Chan Desperans,” a free celebration of Haitian life, poetry and literature, Friday, May 2, from 6-9 p.m. in Old Chapel.

The diasporic dialogue will bring Haitian poets and writers together for a performance with students, faculty and creative artists from the Pioneer Valley and across the Five Colleges. Guests scheduled to attend include writer Marie Ludie Monfort, poet and storyteller Denize Lauture, slam artist, poet and writer Négresse Colas, and poet Jean Dany Joachim. Joëlle Vitiello, professor of French and Francophone studies at Macalester College in Minnesota, will present the event’s keynote address.

A shared meal to celebrate the Haitian communities and Caribbean diaspora in Massachusetts will follow the event in South College E470.

The event is organized by Beaudelaine Pierre, assistant professor in the Department of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and Ximena Abello Hurtado, assistant professor of Africana Studies and Critical Race & Political Economy at Mouth Holyoke College. They and colleagues will serve as emcees for the event, which is sponsored by the UMass Department of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, the Mount Holyoke College Critical Race & Political Economy program, Amherst College, the Five College Lecture Fund, Enlace de Familias, the UMass Comparative Literature program, the UMass Amherst Libraries, the UMass OEI Engagement Fund, LAS Smith College, the UMass Office of Global Affairs and the UMass Department of Afro American Studies.

For questions or more information, contact Pierre at beaudelainep@umass.edu.