Haiti

Krik? Krak!, by Edwidge Danticat (1995). Shortlisted for the National Book Award, this short story collection takes its name from the call-and-response found in Haitian oral histories. Danticat conjures vivid island characters including a man longing to escape his life under the dictatorship by flying, and strong, storytelling women she dubs "kitchen poets": "they slip phrases into their stew and wrap meaning around their pork before frying it."