Bernard Diederich

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Bernard Diederich (18 July 1926 – 14 January 2020)[1] was a New Zealand-born author, journalist, and historian.

Diederich was born into an Irish-German family in

St Patrick's College for two years in the early 1940s, playing in the 1st XV rugby team and representing the school in boxing.[2]

Diederich left school aged 16 to become a shipping clerk to prepare to join the crew of the barque Pamir, which left for San Francisco in early 1943. He was one of 12 boys in a crew of 40.[2] He contributed to the ship's newsletter the Pamir Press.[3]

Diederich studied in England in the early postwar years after having participated in

Time-Life News. In 1966 Diederich moved to Mexico working for Time magazine covering Caribbean affairs. In 1981 the office was moved to Miami, and he worked there until his retirement in 1989.[6] The author continued to publish after retirement with the focus on the political and historical developments in the Caribbean, notably in Haiti.[6]

In 1954 Diederich met Graham Greene and the two became friends;[7] later, as a result of their travel along the Haitian border Diederich wrote The Seeds of Fiction: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954–1983, while Greene published The Comedians.[6]

Diederich published a detailed account of Trujillo's assassination in Trujillo: Death of the Goat in 1978. After Mario Vargas Llosa published The Feast of the Goat, a fictionalized novel about Trujillo's death, in 2000, Diederich accused Vargas Llosa of plagiarism.[8]

He died at his home in Frères, Port-au-Prince, on 14 January 2020, aged 93.

Awards

Books

  • Trujillo: Death of the Goat, 1978
  • Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America, 1981
  • The Ghost of Makara: Growing Up Down-Under in a Lost World of Yesteryears, 2002
  • Papa Doc & The Tontons Macoutes, (Al Burt, coauthor) 2006
  • Bon Papa, 2007
  • The Prize: Haiti's National Palace, 2007
  • 1959: The Year that Changed Our World, 2007
  • Bon Papa's Golden Years, 2008
  • The Price of Blood: History of Repression and Rebellion in Haiti Under Dr François Duvalier, 1957–1962, 2011
  • The Murderers Among Us: History of Repression and Rebellion in Haiti Under Dr. François Duvalier, 1962–1971, 2011
  • Seeds of Fiction: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954–1983, 2012,
    ISBN 978-0-7206-1488-6

External links

References

  1. ^ Sewell, Dan (January 16, 2020). "Longtime Caribbean Journalist Bernard Diederich Dead at 93". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press.
  2. ^ a b c d e Messenger, Robert (2015-12-14). "oz.Typewriter: The Great New Zealand Journalist Bernard Diederich: Melville, Conrad, Hemingway and HST All Rolled Into One!". oz.Typewriter. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  3. ^ "Haiti Journalist Bernard Diederich a Man of Truth - News, Obituaries, Society". NZEDGE. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  4. ^ a b "Bernard Diederich (Web site)". Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  5. ^ "Reviews of 1959: The Year That Inflamed the Caribbean". Markus Wiener Publisher. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c d "Interview with renowned writer Bernard Diederich". CSMS Magazine. June 8, 2006. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  7. ISBN 9780393084320
    .
  8. ^ "Diederich acusa de plagio al escritor Mario Vargas Llosa" (in Spanish). Listindiario. February 5, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
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