Marilène Phipps

• Name — Marilène Phipps • Born — 1950 • Birthplace — Haiti • Education — * University of California, Berkeley • University of Pennsylvania • Occupation — Writer, painter • Awards — Crab Orchard Review Poetry Prize • Website — marilenephipps.com

Marilène S. Phipps-Kettlewell was born and raised in Haiti until the age of 10. She also lived in France. She studied anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an M.F.A. degree.

Phipps-Kettlewell has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Bunting Institute, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute and the Center for the Study of World Religions, all at Harvard University, as well as from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Her work has appeared in the literary journals Callaloo, Tanbou, and Ploughshares. Her poetry has received praise for its vivid imagery and emotional depth. An AGNI review of a Harvard benefit reading for Haiti named her poem "Earthquake", on the 2010 Haiti earthquake, among three poems deserving special mention as "the most innovative in their imagery and emotional thrust". Her first full-length poetry collection, Crossroads and Unholy Water, was lauded for combining remarkable images and striking metaphors with accessibility, covering the full range of human experience without pretension. Her story collection The Company of Heaven earned recognition for its portrayal of Haitian life, with reviewers highlighting her empathy for her subjects and her ability to balance heartbreak with irony while depicting how people maintain hope amid hardship.

She has donated paintings to the National Center of Afro-American Artists. In a 1993 review, Vivien Raynor of The New York Times gave a mixed assessment of her voodoo-themed paintings, praising her technical skill and use of color.

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