M. Ketsia Theodore-Pharel

Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel (prefers to be called Ketsia) was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti, currently lives in South Florida with her two youngest children and husband. Ketsia earned a Bachelor’s from Tufts University and a Masters in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She was a recipient of the 2017 and 2019 State of Florida Folklife apprenticeship award for storytelling. Her debut novel, Rope, received four stars from Readersview.com. Kirkus Review provided an insightful review as well. Other publications include “How to Get Up When Your Man’s Been on Da Down-Low” published in Faultline: Journal of Arts and Letters, Volume 23; “Le Bon Berger” published in So Spoke The Earth, edited by M.J. Fievre; “Kako Blood” in the Caribbean Writer, 2011; “Mercy at the Gate” in Haiti Noir, edited by Edwidge Danticat, 2011; “Haiti: a Cigarette Burning at both Ends” in Butterly Ways: Voices from the Haitian Diaspora in the United States, edited by Edwidge Danticat, 2001; and “The Mango Tree” in Compost Magazine, 1994. Her children’s books include Beauty Walks in Nature (2010), Songs from a Tower (2009), Keeper of the Sky (2007), One More Daughter, America (2006), Daughter of the House (2005), A Fish Called Tanga (2003), I’ll Fly Away (1999).