Savitri (Savi) Naipaul Akal (April 1938 – 2024) was a memoirist and teacher from Trinidad. She was the daughter of author

Seepersad Naipaul Seepersad Naipaul (; 1906–1953) was a Trinidadian writer. He was the father of writers V. S. Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul and Savi Naipaul Akal, and married into the influential Indo-Trinidadian Capildeo family. Early life Born to a poor Indian ...

and his wife Droapatie (née Capildeo), and the sister of V. S. Naipaul and

Shiva Naipaul Shiva Naipaul (; 25 February 1945 – 13 August 1985), born Shivadhar Srinivasa Naipaul in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, was an Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian, Indo-Trinidadian and British novelist and journalist. Life and work Shiva Na ...

Early life and education

Savitri (Savi) Naipaul Akal was born at the Lion House in

Chaguanas The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing
– Afr ...

, Trinidad, in April 1938. She was the fifth child and fourth daughter of Droapatie Naipaul (née Capildeo) and

. The Naipaul family lived for a time at Lion House (Anand Bhavan), the historic home of the

Capildeo family The Capildeo family () is an Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian family of Hindu pundits, politicians, scientists, attorneys, and writers. The most notable members are 2001 Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul and mathematician and politician Rudranath Ca ...

in Trinidad, before living at 26 Nepaul Street (now Naipaul House and Literary Museum). Both houses were memorialised in her brother V. S. Naipaul's novel '' A House for Mr Biswas'', and would be revisited by Naipaul Akal in her memoir, ''The Naipauls of Nepaul Street''. Naipaul Akal studied at Tranquillity Intermediate School and St. Joseph's Convent in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

. She obtained a BA degree partially from

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in Scotland (1961–1963), and completed at the

University of the West Indies at St. Augustine The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine is a public university, public research institute, research university in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of 5 general campuses in the University of the West Indies system, which a ...

, Trinidad (1968). She followed this with a

Diploma of Education The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overview The diploma can build on th ...

in 1973.

Career

From 1968 to 1972, Naipaul Akal worked as a part-time tutor in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

at the

, Trinidad, followed by a full-time post as a teacher of

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

at the Convent schools and at Tranquillity. In 1980, she retired from the latter, having risen to Vice-Principal. Until the 2010s, she ran an up-scale boutique, Smaks, in Valsayn. In 2018, Naipaul Akal published her memoir of the literary Naipaul family, ''The Naipauls of Nepaul Street'' (Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2018). Both she and her sister Kamla had wanted to write a memoir about the family and their time at 26 Nepaul Street (now Naipaul House and Literary Museum), but Savi had deferred to her elder sister. When Kamla passed before she could accomplish it, Savi's surviving family encouraged her to write the memoir.

''The Naipauls of Nepaul Street''

Savi Naipaul Akal's

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

''The Naipauls of Nepaul Street'' tells of the Naipaul family's literary beginnings, their life at 26 Nepaul Street (now Naipaul House and Literary Museum), and the eventual emigrations and dispersals that led to the end of their time there. In the book, she tells the story of her parents, and their role in the large family of seven children. The memoir is unique in expanding upon the lives of the Naipaul women, who were often overlooked in literary biographies until that point. Though the women of the Naipaul family were briefly given additional focus when

Nicholas Laughlin Nicholas Laughlin (born 6 May 1975)"In brief"
Nicholas Laughlin's website. is a writer and editor from

V. S. Naipaul later removed these letters and restored the earlier text for subsequent editions. Naipaul Akal writes of how her mother, Droapatie, managed the family's finances and ensured all seven children (including the five daughters) went to university. She also explains that V. S. used his mother as a source of information — via savage "interrogations" — to inform his own writing. The book also explores Droapatie's diplomatic handling of her husband's desire for independence — as well as his job as a reporter and his literary ambitions — against the demands of being a part of the large, high-profile

. The book also covers the time V. S. Naipaul was in Oxford, his "war of words" with their brother

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

, and the surprise early deaths of their father Seepersad and then Shiva, too. Like Vidia's early work, she portrays a family encouraged by Seepersad's belief that books and literature would be a way to better themselves. Writing in the ''Trinidad Express'', historian

Bridget Brereton Bridget Brereton (born 1946) is a Trinidad and Tobago-based historian, who is Emerita Professor of History at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. She is the author of works including ''A History of Modern Trinidad''; ''Law, Justice ...

called the book "lively" and "moving", and said it was "a valuable record of a remarkable family and a formative period in Trinidad's social and cultural evolution". In ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', reviewer Patrick Skene-Catling describes Naipaul Akal herself as "evidently ... sharply observant as well as affectionate" and says that the author mostly maintains "admirable moderation, balance and good humour" on her subjects. On the subject of her brother V. S. Naipaul, however, he argues that Vidia's own work needs to be read alongside Naipaul Akal's to offer some "justification" for the actions she criticises. Naipaul Akal donated photographs to Naipaul House for its restoration as a museum. Her son, Ashvin, donated much of the museum's memorabilia and is the treasurer of the organisation charged with managing the museum, the Friends of Mr Biswas.

Personal life

Naipaul Akal married into the Akal family. Her son Kiran has developed her former

Valsayn Valsayn is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It is located along the East–West Corridor in northern Trinidad between the Eastern Main Road, Uriah Butler Highway, Churchill–Roosevelt Highway and Curepe. Valsayn consists of a small number of luxu ...

-based boutique into an international tea and spirits brand, SMAKS Luxury Group. Her other son, Ashvin, is treasurer of the Friends of Mr Biswas — the group that manages Naipaul House and Literary Museum. Naipaul Akal remained close with her brothers and sisters. Though V. S. Naipaul moved away at 18 and her brother

died at the age of 40—Naipaul Akal publicly lamented the "war of words" between the brothers—she maintained communication with Vidia throughout his life and was on good terms with him when he passed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naipaul Akal, Savi 1938 births Caribbean writers Literary families 21st-century memoirists Naipaul family Trinidad and Tobago writers