Seepersad Naipaul

Seepersad Naipaul
Native name	शिव प्रसाद नायपॉल
Born	1906 Trinidad and Tobago
Died	1953 Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Occupation	journalist and author
Language	English and Hindustani
Nationality	Trinidadian and Tobagonian
Ethnicity	Brahmin, Nepali Madhesi/Bahun, Awadhi/Bihari Indo-Trinidadian
Citizenship	British
Notable works	The Adventures of Gurudeva
Years active	1929-1953
Spouse	Droapatie Naipaul (née Capildeo)
Children	V. S. Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, Kamla Tewari (née Naipaul), and Sati Bissoondath (née Naipaul)
Relatives	Nadira Naipaul, Neil Bissoondath, Rudranath Capildeo, Simbhoonath Capildeo, Vahni Capildeo, Surendranath Capildeo, and Capildeo family

Seepersad Naipaul (Hindustani: शिव प्रसाद नायपॉल; 1906—1953) was a writer of Indo-Trinidadian heritage. He was the father of V. S. Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, and Sati Bissoondath (née Naipaul), and married into the influential Indo-Trinidadian Capildeo family.

Seepersad Naipaul worked as a journalist on the Trinidad Guardian. He was the first Indo-Trinidadian reporter for the Trinidad Guardian. His only book, The Adventures of Gurudeva, is a collection of linked short stories that was first published in Trinidad and Tobago 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, in the hope that any money it earned would help the family escape from the poverty in which they lived in Trinidad and Tobago. The book was not published in London until after Seepersad's death.^[1]

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 until the older Naipaul's death, was published in 1999, and extracted in The New Yorker.^[2]

See also

• Capildeo family

References