IT CAN BE HARD FOR A GOAN WRITER TO GET PUBLISHED -- LINO LEITAO Goan expat writer Lino Leitao (born in 1930 at Varca) shares cups of tea and details about his life's experiences with FREDERICK NORONHA during a visit to his home state. On a June evening, when the monsoons had taken a mid-season break and it seemed like summer again, we met up at Panjim's hardly-glamorous Cafe Prakash, which remains the favourite meeting point for some journalists. In the midsts of our talk, we tried to convince him to get his work republished in Goa. Excerpts from the interview:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tell us something on your work so far? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've published three short-story collections, starting in the 'seventies. I had then migrated to teach in a Gujarati school Uganda in East Africa, after teaching at Don Bosco's in Chinchinim. My book 'Collected Tales' was published in the US, while the latter two came out from Canada's Vester Publications, called 'Collected Short Tales' and 'Goan Tales'. Besides that, I get published in many journals. Later too, I got a grant (in Canada, to where I had migrated) to write 'The Gift of the Holy Cross'. This book was published around the turn of the century by People Tree Press of UK. I'm expecting the same book to come out with a Canadian edition from Obrien Press, but don't quite know when exactly. My story 'Xamai' (The Grandmother) was published by the University of Calgary in its ethnic-studies journal. It is now being published in England by 'Confluence', a journal edited by diaspora Indians. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What lies ahead? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My novel 'Sorpatel' is almost finished. It's about my experiences in Uganda, and, from there, going to Canada in 1974. It's written in the third person, but based mostly on my experiences of the Goan psyche, mostly of Uganda Goan expatriate. Many of whom were civil servants who worked for what was then called the British Protectorate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- How would you define your own experiences, migration and background? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was brought up in Goa, and my psyche is, I'd think, mostly Goan. I write about Goans in Goa and Goans abroad. After studies in Goa and the neighbouring areas, we were involved in campaigning against Portuguese rule. There was a campaign for autonomy on then too; but it did not work out. I studied Portuguese in the primary school. After that, I went to Popular High School in Margao, run then by Pundalik Naik and Costa from Seraulim. After that, I did my Matric from Pune, and college studies in Belgaum. I got involved with the Liberation movement in Belgaum. I started teaching there for awhile. Then I taught in Chinchinim. Five months before December 1961 (when Portuguese rule ended) I went to Uganda to teach. From there, I landed in Montreal, Canada (in the 'seventies). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who were the Goan thinkers that shaped your views? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fanchu Loyola was imprisoned in the Peniche jail, along with Purshottam Kakodkar and others. I admire him for his ideas on democracy. He wrote a book on the economic status of colonial Goa, and had pointed out that Goa was a feudal state. His view was that if the economic foundations were not put in place, then the economy would never be in the hands of the Goans. Without this, political freedom would be meaningless. I also admire Francisco Luis Gomes; he talked about free trade long, long ago; we talk about it today. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you keep in touch with Goan writing? Any work you find impressive? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recently, I've read 'Goa: A Daughter's Story' by Maria Couto. It's impressive the way she un-entangles the puzzle of caste and class, and the confluence of the Portuguese and the Goan in this region. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- How did you get involved with writing? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I used to write when I was very young, even at the age of 10. Then, it was in Konkani and Portuguese. Felicio Cardozo, who recently died (in a road-accident), later had a publication called 'Sot', and I sent him poems. Now, I can't write (fluently enough) in Konkani (after years of migration). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is writing addictive? Does being online help you in your writing? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For me, writing short stories is addictive. During this visit itself to Goa (in June 2004), there was so much material to understand the Goan psyche, that I might write four to five short stories based on it. I send my short stories here and there for publication. Some are accepted, and some rejected. Sometimes, having access to the computer (and the Internet) does help in my writing. Some of my books get sold by Amazon.com (the major mail-order selling books in the West). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are your dreams, in the creative sense? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm really waiting to get my novel published. Also, to put out my many short stories in a collection. Some have been published in different places, and are scattered all around. It's very difficult for Goan writers, and finding suitable publishers to get published. To get an agent and a publisher is not very easy. That's probably because Goans are not very pushy in their approach. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What else accounts for this? Is it because Goans are a small community, not very visible, and among the diaspora not even adequately recognised as South Asian? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are other factors too: Goa's don't read very much and don't appreciate the writing of other Goans. They don't buy sufficient books. There's no large Goan reading public. I don't quite know why; inspite of the higher literacy rates, they don't read their own writers. Other Indians very much do so. For book-signing events, I've hardly come across any Goan coming up for the same. In the State University of Chicago event, there were Whites and Blacks, but not a single Goan who came for this event. One researcher from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil has been working on my novel for her thesis. Goans abroad do meet at functions, but there are also some kind of factions among themselves. They go as Bombay Goans, Kenya Goans, and the like. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ d88888b d8b db Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa India 88' 888o 88 f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g 88ooo 88V8o 88 http://www.bytesforall.org 88~~~ 88 V8o88 Phone 0091.832.2409490 Mobile 09822 122436 88 88 V888 784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Sonarbhat Saligao Goa 403511 YP VP V8P Writing ... with a difference, on issues that matter ------------------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from Goa-Research-Net ------------------------------------------------------------------- * Send us a brief self-intro to justify your interest in this "specialized" forum. 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