The story behind the stories: An interview with Kevin Jared Hosein

Kevin Jared Hosein is a celebrated Trinidadian novelist, short story writer, and poet, whose works provide an evocative and rich portrayal of Trinidadian history and sociocultural reality. While his novel, Hungry Ghosts, won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2024, his earlier works have also received accolades, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2018. In this interview, Hosein gives his insights about Hungry Ghosts, his journey as a writer, and his distinct approaches towards literary forms like novels, short stories, and poems. He touches on the recurring depictions of Trinidad and children in his works, foregrounding the unique challenges and possibilities he highlights through these representations. This interview explores Hosein’s sustained efforts to render Trinidad’s landscape and Trinidadian Creole as integral to his literary practice. It further elicits Hosein’s take on the changing sociocultural and literary landscape of postcolonial Trinidad, and his road map for future works.