Seepersad Naipaul (; 1906–1953) was an

Indo-Trinidadian Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845. Indo-Trinidadians an ...

writer. He was the father of V. S. Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, Kamla Tewari (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Naipaul), and Sati Bissoondath (''née'' Naipaul), and married into the influential

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Indo-Trinidadian Capildeo family.

Career

Seepersad Naipaul worked as the first

journalist for the ''

Trinidad Guardian The ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'' (together with the ''Sunday Guardian'') is the oldest daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago. The paper is considered the newspaper of record for Trinidad and Tobago. History Its first edition was published ...

''. His only book, ''The Adventures of Gurudeva'', is a collection of linked comic short stories that was first published in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

in 1943 (under the title ''Gurudeva and Other Indian Tales''). The elder Naipaul wanted his son "Vido" (as he called him) to try to get his story collection published in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in the hope that any money it earned would help the family escape from the

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse

in which they lived in

. The book was not published in London until after Seepersad's death. ''Between Father and Son: Family Letters'' (edited by Gillon Aitken), correspondence with V. S. Naipaul, and other family members, dating from around the time Vidia won a scholarship to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

until the older Naipaul's death, was published in 1999, and extracted in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''.V. S. Naipaul, Personal History, "Letters Between Father and Son", ''The New Yorker'', December 13, 1999, p. 66.
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References

1906 births 1953 deaths Seepersad Trinidad and Tobago Hindus Trinidad and Tobago journalists 20th-century journalists {{Caribbean-writer-stub

Career

See also

References