An interview series featuring T&T and Caribbean writers of newly published works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, with a focus on self-published and independent books.
Tony Deyal, author of Tony Deyal Was Last Seen and Blades of Grass and Glory
Q. What is your favourite Caribbean work of fiction/ non-fiction/ poetry?
A. The first Caribbean book I read and loved forever after all the Brit stuff from elementary school – Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul.
Q. Describe the plot of your books to us.
A. There are two that are from my 38 years of newspaper columns starting in The Barbados Nation and still there and many other places including Canada where I have a fan club. The first one, Tony Deyal Was Last Seen…, is on different scenes in the English-speaking Caribbean. The other is about cricket and what has happened to it. While it is named Blades of Grass and Glory, some of my friends say that West Indies cricketers and fans are catching their grass and it is gory.
Q. Describe the most challenging aspect of writing your books to us.
A. I wrote for the newspapers where I worked, first with the Pan American Health Organisation in Barbados, then with Petrotrin in Trinidad, followed by the World Bank/CARICOM in Belize and ending at the West Indies Cricket Board as Corporate Secretary. These were all tough jobs that took most of my time. More, I had to be in all the English-speaking Caribbean and other parts of the world. Writing my articles and getting them on time to the newspapers throughout the region and elsewhere was always difficult, but in the 32 years I never missed a Saturday. I had (and still have) a lot of people waiting and looking out for my columns.
Q. What makes Caribbean writers and novels unique among all others?
A. The Caribbean is unique as is almost any country or group. I started reading English prose, poetry and jokes for most of my early life because we had to if we wanted to get scholarships etc. The fact is that I am a reader who became a writer. While I write about the Caribbean, and see myself as Trinidad-born but a Caribbean person, I still read whatever I have. I help other Caribbean people with their work (at no cost) but I always tell them (and my children) you have to read from the outside looking into the
Caribbean and from the Caribbean looking outside.
Q. Share your best advice for upcoming writers in Trinidad and beyond.
A. Read, read and read some more. You learn from them and put it into practice because
“There’s a write way to tell a story and a wrong…”
Tony Deyal, author of Tony Deyal Was Last Seen and Blades of Grass and Glory, is the most widely read columnist in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Tony Deyal Was Last Seen and Blades of Grass and Glory are available at Paper Based Bookshop, The Writers Centre, 14 Alcazar Street, St. Clair, 628-3917 (landline); 359-7042 (WhatsApp), @paperbasedbookshop (Instagram).
