‘Nothing called me like Guyana’ -novelist Bhattacharya

Rahul Bhattacharya at a Moray House Trust reading on May 13th (Arian Browne photo)

Intrigued by the uniqueness of the Caribbean and with thoughts of writing a book at the back of his mind, cricket journalist Rahul Bhattacharya left his home in India in 2007 to come to Guyana to explore life in this part of the world. His experiences here greatly influenced his first novel The Sly Company of People Who Care, which has won the young author international acclaim.

The novel, which was published in 2011, was awarded the Hindu Prize for Best Fiction in India, the 2012 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and was also a Kirkus Fiction Book of the year in the USA. It was also shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, the Commonwealth Book Prize and the Economist Crossword Book Award.

Yet seven years after the visit that inspired the work, Bhattacharya still has difficulty explaining his connection to this country. “Nothing called me like Guyana,” he told Stabroek News during his recent trip here. While the country’s topography, musical language, social characteristics and day to day way of life appealed to him,