Peter “Lauchmonen” Kempadoo is a writer and broadcaster from Guyana. He has also worked as a development worker in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
In 1953 he moved to the UK where he built a career in print journalism as well as radio and television broadcasting, and published two novels, Guiana Boy in 1960 — the first novel by a Guyanese of Indian descent — and Old Thom’s Harvest in 1965.
Early Life
Born in 1926 on a sugar estate to parents James Kempadoo, aka Lauchmonen, and Priscilla Alemeloo Tambran, who are both Tamils.
He was educated first at St. Joseph Anglican School, then went on at the age of 10, to attend Port Mourant Roman Catholic School. There he passed the Junior and Senior Cambridge examinations, before becoming a pupil-teacher at Port Mourant and at 17, he qualified as a certified teacher. Moving in 1947 to Georgetown, he trained as a nurse at Georgetown Public Hospital, and reported on hospital matters for the Daily Argosy until he was invited to join the staff.
He married Rosemary Read in 1952. He is the father of novelist Oonya Kempadoo who now lives in St George’s Grenada and photographer Roshini Kempadoo who currently lives in London. He migrated with his family to England in 1953, where he worked for the BBC, and the Central Office of Information.
His Work
He published his first novel in 1960 entitled “Guiana boy”. It was the first novel by a Guyanese of Indian descent. The book focuses on his own life as the son of sugar workers to portray a world lacking in freedom, but where the workers struggle to maintain their identity as Madrassis in their rice plots, their fishing expeditions and in the feasts and festivities their ancestors brought from India. His book, Guiana Boy, was self-published in 1960 by a small press, New Literature (Publishing) Limited, founded by Kempadoo. One of the reasons for self-publishing was that major English publishing houses at the time wanted the language of book to be refashioned to suit English readership.
The Caribbean Review of Books has described the novel as “an intimate, clear-eyed portrait of Indo-Guyanese rural life”, in which the author “channels the spirits of dignified misfits to dismantle the rigid hierarchies governing former plantation societies, all while honoring the polyglot traditions their descendants have elected to preserve.”
He is the author of another novel, “Old Thom’s Harvest” (1965), which focuses on religious and ethnic practices in the life of a rural family. He has also co-authored with his wife a booklet entitled “A–Z of Guyanese Words”. He returned with his family to Guyana in 1970 where he produced local radio programmes such as Rural Life Guyana, We the People, Our Kind of Folk and Jarai (with Marc Matthews).
Mr. Kempadoo was honored at the Jubilee Literary Festival at the University of Guyana as part of activities held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Guyana’s independence in 2016. He currently lives in Coventry, England.
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