Yvonne Ba­boolal

Seep­er­sad Naipaul, the fa­ther of world-renowned Trinida­di­an writer VS Naipaul and, some be­lieve, his in­spi­ra­tion, will be cel­e­brat­ed by the Na­tion­al In­for­ma­tion and Li­brary Sys­tems (Nalis) in Port-of-Spain, this evening. Seep­er­sad, a T&T Guardian jour­nal­ist who al­so wrote a col­lec­tion of folk tales, was the pro­to­type of the main char­ac­ter, Mr Biswas, in Naipaul's nov­el A House for Mr Biswas.

Prof Ken Ram­c­hand, who heads the NGO, Friends of Mr Biswas, said in a re­lease yes­ter­day that in 1946, Seep­er­sad bought the house at 26 Nepal Street, St James, where Naipaul and his broth­er Shi­va, al­so a writer, lived. "The house is the house made fa­mous in VS Naipaul's nov­el A House for Mr Biswas.

It is the house where the writer and jour­nal­ist Seep­er­sad Naipaul lived from 1946 till his death in 1953, the house where VS Naipaul lived from 1946 till 1950 when he de­part­ed for Ox­ford, the place where Shi­va Naipaul, an­oth­er writer son of Seep­er­sad, grew up," Ram­c­hand said. Ram­c­hand said in 1996, the gov­ern­ment pur­chased the fam­i­ly home of Seep­er­sad and his wife Droa­p­atie, as a her­itage build­ing.

Friends of Mr Biswas, in­cor­po­rat­ed by an Act of Par­lia­ment, was giv­en a 99-year lease to de­vel­op the Naipaul House, as a mu­se­um and in­ter­na­tion­al study li­brary for ed­u­ca­tion. Ram­c­hand said part of the house is to be fur­nished and re­stored as near as pos­si­ble to how it was in 1950. Rodger Samuel, Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Di­ver­si­ty and So­cial In­te­gra­tion, will wel­come the project at the Nalis func­tion at the Na­tion­al Li­brary at 6.30 pm to­day, which will be chaired by Ram­c­hand.

Prof Brins­ley Sama­roo will present an overview of the life of Seep­er­sad and Savi Akal, sis­ter of VS Naipaul and Shi­va, will read from A House for Mr Biswas. The Iere The­atre Group will give a 20-minute drama­ti­sa­tion of one of Seep­er­sad's sto­ries. "Cit­i­zens are be­ing in­vit­ed to be­come mem­bers of the Friends.

The Friends is au­tonomous and is run by the mem­ber­ship who elect a com­mit­tee every two years," Ram­c­hand said. The Na­tion­al Li­brary will al­so host fu­ture events on Seep­er­sad, in­clud­ing pan­el dis­cus­sions on his sec­ond son, Shi­va, and his grand­son Neil Bis­soon­dath. "These writ­ers are to be in­stalled in the mu­se­um be­side VSN and the beget­ter of them all, Seep­er­sad Naipaul," Ram­c­hand said.