Guyanese writer for TT show

Author of five novels, five books of poetry and ten plays, Bissundyal is the first poet outside of India to compile an anthropology of Sanskrit poems. He won the prestigious “Kavyamani” award in New York last December for his poetic work, “Vanamatri” which he will be reading in Shabda Kaantih. He also holds a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in creative writing. Shabda Kaantih is directed by Andre Wiltshire, a drama professor in Guyana and produced by Arti Jankie.

India-born music singer professor Rajesh Kirkel and Chandra Katwaroo will sing two songs composed by Bissundyal. It is the first time Bissundyal’s work will be staged here. Under the pseudonym of Omartelle Blenessequi he wrote and self-published in 1976 a long poem, “Glorianna,” which deals with a mystical goddess figure in the context of Kali Mai worship. His unpublished poem, “The Stream of Red Tears” was awarded a certificate of excellence at Guyfesta 1975. In 1985, he published “The Cleavage,” a long, narrative poem which deals with the historical experience of indentured Indian immigration, the loss of cultural wholeness and the halting path towards the regeneration of a new Indo-Guyanese culture out the fragments of the past and immersion in the Guyanese land.

His novel, Whom the Kiskadees Call, explores a dialectic between beauty and repulsiveness and the impulses to revenge and forgiveness. It draws on Bissundyal’s experiences of living in many parts of Guyana for its vivid descriptions of place, whether forested, rivers, sugar estate or urban shanty town.

The cast of Shabda Kaantih includes Sharda Jagidhar, Balraj Harry, Hubert Ramlal, Kathy Ann Ramsahai, Shane Sookdeo, Akash Ragoonanan, Argun Jagidhar, Vishal Persad and Reshama Beepath. The play opens at the Creative Arts Centre, Circular Road, San Fernando, tonight at 7 pm.