We at JWIL honor the memory and legacy of the Guyanese writer, Rooplall Monar (1945-2024). A poet, novelist and short story writer, Monar’s work, which centers a rich Guyanese creole, paints vivid pictures of Indo-Guyanese lives on the terrain of the sugar estates and elsewhere. Part of the influential Messenger group of Guyanese writers, Monar’s 1985 Backdam People, with its humor, orality and poignancy, remains essential reading for its portrayal of Indo-Guyanese sugar estate workers in the first half of the 20th century. His body of work treats with dignity the lives of the rural working class and their resilience and community building in the face of exploitative conditions.
https://www.peepaltreepress.com/authors/rooplall-monar
https://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/reviews/backdam-people-3
