Ingrid Persaud is a

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

-born writer, artist, and academic, who lives in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She won the

BBC National Short Story Award BBC National Short Story Award is a British literary award for short stories. It was founded in 2005 by the NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) with support from BBC Radio 4 and '' Prospect'' magazine. The winner re ...

in 2018, and the

Commonwealth Short Story Prize The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000 to 5,000 words). The prize is open to citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations aged 18 and over. The Commonwealth Shor ...

in 2017, with her debut effort ''The Sweet Sop''. The story is about an estranged father and son reunited through their shared love for chocolate. In 2020, Persaud's novel ''Love After Love'', was published by

Faber Faber may refer to: People * Faber (surname) Companies * Faber and Faber (also known as "Faber and Gwyer"), publishing house in the United Kingdom * Faber-Castell, German manufacturer of writing instruments * Faber Music, British sheet musi ...

in the UK and One World/Random House in the USA. ''Love After Love'' won the

Costa Book Award for First Novel The Costa Book Award for First Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971-2006), was an annual literary award for authors' debut novels, part of the Costa Book Awards. Recipients Costa Books of the Year are distinguished with a bold font ...

in 2020. She has written for the magazines ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'', ''

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (minin ...

'' and '' Pree'', as well as for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' and the '' I'' newspapers.

Writing career

Persaud began writing in her 40s, after a successful career as a legal academic and visual artist. Persaud read law at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

, and studied fine art at

Goldsmith College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

and

Central St. Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of ...

. She taught law at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King' ...

, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and worked as a visual artist before becoming a writer. She has also written for National Geographic.

''Love After Love''

The story, set in modern-day Trinidad, centres the Ramdin-Chetan family, told from three separate perspectives: Betty Ramdin, her son Solo, and their lodger Mr Chetan. These characters form an unconventional household full of love and affection until the night when a glass of rum, a heart to heart and a terrible truth explodes the family unit, driving them apart. The novel asks us to consider what happens at the very brink of human forgiveness, and offers hope to anyone who has loved and lost and has yet to find their way back. The book examines love in many iterations and also highlights the treatment of gay people in the Caribbean, the fragility of life as an undocumented migrant in the United States, as well as traditional religious beliefs contrasted with unconventional spirituality. Persaud's debut novel received critical acclaim including from The Guardian's reviewer, who said, "Persaud gives us a captivating interrogation of love in all its forms, how it heals and how it harms, the twists and torments of obsession (''mania''), sex and romance (''eros''), family (''storge''), friendship (''philia''), acceptance or rejection by the community, and so on." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated: "Great books about love, like this one, feel like precious and impossible gifts. We should cherish the writers who provide them." The title of Persaud's novel refers to a poem of the same name by Caribbean author and poet

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcott ...

Education and work

Persaud read law at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

, and studied fine art at

and

. Persaud taught law at

and worked as a visual artist and project manager before becoming a writer.

Personal life

Persaud left Trinidad at 18 and moved to the UK to study. She has lived at various times in Boston and Barbados. She has identical twin sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Persaud, Ingrid 21st-century novelists 21st-century women writers Academics of King's College London Alumni of Central Saint Martins Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the London School of Economics Living people Trinidad and Tobago women writers Year of birth missing (living people)