'There's a wedge in society'

JABARRI SUPERVILLE

FORMER independent Senator Prof Kenneth Ramchand believes a wedge has been created in TT by partisan and “racial politics.”

Ramchand gave the feature address at the launch of author Willi Chen’s debut novel Toulum – A House for Matilda,
on Wednesday at the Central Bank auditorium, Port of Spain.

He said the novel captured a special time in TT history.

“This novel is constructed to discuss race relations, especially between Indo and Afro-Trinidadians, in the late 30s and 40s,” he said.

Ramchand, who wrote the foreword for Chen’s short story collection King of Carnival and Other Stories, said the novel showcases rural Trinidad before racial politics made the race relations in society “tense” and sometimes violent.

He added, “Willi is showing prejudice between Indo and Afro-Trinidadians. This book shows us that we could have had a society outside of race and culture, but we blew it.”

Praising Chen, he said, “It’s quite an achievement to make a successful transition from writing short stories to using the novel format.”

Reynold Bassant, friend of Chen and editor of Toulum, described Chen as “a gem” with sustainable language.

“His work preserves heritage. The book has a certain ‘stick-to-it-iveness’ in regards to where we have come from and where we have been as a community,” he said.

Bassant explained that Toulum deals with two young people of differing races in stages of adolescence.

He added, “I want to see people support Caribbean literature. It’s growing daily.”

Chen, who read excerpts from Toulum, said how proud he was to have finally published his first novel and hinted at another collection of short stories to come in the near future.

Former teacher and member of the San Fernando Theatre Workshop David Sammy said Chen understands “colours, shapes and character” and creates an authentic picture of rural TT society at the time.

The launch also featured excerpt readings by Sammy as well as radio and television personality Hansley Ajodha.