Suzanne Dracius is an award-winning writer from Martinique whom the French Minister of Culture has called “one of the great figures of Antillean letters.” Her first collection of poetry, Exquise déréliction métisse (Calazaza’s Delicious Dereliction), translated by Nancy Naomi Carlson, was published by Tupelo Press in 2015. Dracius’s poems, short stories, novels, and plays, featuring strong female protagonists, emphasize Martinique’s complex cultural history, filled with slavery, sugar cane, “métissage” (refers to the blending of two distinct elements, in either a biological or cultural sense), and erupting volcanoes. Her sophisticated language is filled with imaginative word play, Latin, slang, and Creole.