‘Reaching for the Stars’ autobiography of Yesu Persaud, published by The Caribbean Press

(extract of an interview with David Dabydeen on Yesu Persaud’s autobiography. Dabydeen is an academic, author and diplomat. Persaud is the founder and member of numerous social and financial organizations)
PP: It is only now the writing of memoirs and autobiographies by Guyanese is growing in popularity. Why do you think people are turning more to this genre of writing?DD: You are completely right, Petamber, this genre of writing is the most under-represented genre in Caribbean Literature. I think we still have a far way to go. I can think of only a handful of such books including Cheddi Jagan’s ‘The West on Trial’, and Maj. Gen. rtd Joe Singh’s ‘Growing up in British Guiana’. And this book by Yesu Persaud, ‘Reaching for the Stars’ which is the first volume about his early life.

But there are still many people who need to tell their own story and it is best they tell their own story. So this is a welcomed addition to our literature.

PP: Before we move on, I would just like to mention a few other such books that have come to my attention. Jan Carew’s ‘Potaro Dreams’, Arnold Apple’s ‘Son of Guyana’, Maggie Harris’s ‘Kiskadee Girl’, Shridath Ramphal’s ‘Glimpses of a Global Life’ and Reds Perreria’s ‘Living my Dreams’, Rohan Kanhai’s ‘Blasting for Runs’….

DD: And Mittelholzer’s ‘A Swarthy Boy’ …

PP: A. J. Seymour had written five volumes of autobiography. And we must be mindful of the stories of men and women written in other formats.

DD: Writers, novelists tend to use their own lives as source material for their first novels….

PP: Especially first novels.

DD: But of course a novel is different from an autobiography. With an autobiographical novel, you will have to plot it and prune it while with the autobiography, you have the freedom to wander here and there, without thinking or without being constrained by literary form and structure. An autobiography can be written from the heart and can have a kind of naturalness and cannot be criticize on aesthetic grounds.
Unless we have autobiographies, more and more, the living history of Guyana will not be fully accounted for as it could be.
One of the wonderful things about Yesu Persaud’s autobiography is it tells the story of a very poor person who had a very poor childhood…but he was able to rise above all this, in fact, he was able to go to England to study. In England, he had terrible landlords who exploited him, it was bitterly cold, he had to work in some very difficult situations. He had to work all day and find time to study in the evening. In the meantime, his wife gets very ill and he had to look after the children and work and study. He does all of that and he qualifies magnificently, proving his employers wrong – they didn’t think he could ever become a qualified accountant. Having said all of that, he was offered a good job but he returned to Guyana to work in the tax field. Eventually, he was part of a very historic thing that happened in Guyana – the Nationalisation of Bookers; he was the key person in the negotiation…and the rest is history.
It is a very beautiful story of the capacity of Guyanese, and most of us, come from very humble background to achieve in spectacular ways …

PP: Including you, David; your story is also inspiring….

DD: Forget me for the while but if you look at the achievements of all our scholars, you would see this trajectory – barefooted, bookless and yet you find them in the halls of excellence all over the globe.
And this book, ‘Reaching for the Stars’, is a wonderful narrative of that journey. Although the book is about Yesu Persaud’s life, I recognize many of our high achievers have gone through that same procedure overcoming poverty and deprivation on their way to the top.

PP: So far we looked at the man’s life without reference to the book. Let’s now look at the book. In the foreword, written by Dr. Ian McDonald a friend and colleague of Yesu Persaud. McDonald wrote that ‘it is a remarkable, uplifting story, ..a life of achievements’.
One of the driving forces of this man is his integrity. He spoke out when wronged, he stood up for what he believed. All his life from the cane field, schooling, marriage, living in England, returning to Guyana. So his integrity was the driving force that stood him in good stead right up to this day.

DD: This book was published by the recently established Caribbean Press and I think it is one of the finest books to be published by the Press. It is the, I think, seventieth book by the Press. And we think it was an honour and an opportunity to publish this magnificent story. (to be continued)
Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com
What’s Happening:
The Caribbean Press has commissioned me to produce as Editor a Volume 2 of contemporary poetry, and a Volume 1 of contemporary prose by local Guyanese writers. Please contact me for further information.

(By Petamber Persaud)