Haydée Touitou is a writer and translator. Her poems and short stories have been published in various magazines. Haydée’s book of poetry, We Have Been Meaning To, was published in 2020. She is also the co-founder of The Skirt Chronicles, a magazine that explores literature, fashion, culture and beyond by placing photography and the written word on the same pedestal.
Which three books would you recommend?
To Write In A Foreign Language Etel Adnan
This book shaped the way in which I view my practice as a writer or maybe should I say it confirmed intuitions I had in the back of my brain. I would recommend this book to anybody who writes in a language they had to make their own (as opposed to the languages their parents spoke with them) or really anybody who lives life in between 2, 3, 4 or more languages.
This book was published in French but the text is available in English here.
The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras
She is maybe my favorite author and yet it is very hard to recommend one of her books. Mainly depending on if you have ever read her writing or not, if you like her persona or not, the recommendation might change entirely! However, there is something about The Ravishing of Lol Stein. Maybe it’s the best one to discover her work. It is one I still think fondly about even though I read it more than ten years ago. If somebody has already read a few of her books, I would then recommend The Malady of Death.
The World of YesterdayStefan Zweig
I always read non stop as a child, but the first book I can say left an indelible trace on me is The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig. The very last paragraph of the book is a beautiful and heartbreaking account of what it means to be human. It’s the book that made me understand why I loved reading so much. I was a young teenager and I closed the book crying, not because the story was sad (even though it was tragic) but I think my crying was simply caused by the beauty of the words.
Whose reading list are you most curious about?
I love eavesdropping at the bookstore when somebody is ordering a book. Something they couldn’t find on the shelves but that they absolutely have to read!