The enigma of Harold Sonny Ladoo

Harold Sonny Ladoo was the first Trinidadian and second Caribbean novelist published in Canada, yet remains little known beyond a circle of devoted readers. His debut, No pain like this body (1972), edited by House of Anansi co-founder Dennis Lee, offers a poetic, harrowing portrayal of Indian indentureship. His second novel, Yesterdays (1974) – one of Caribbean fiction’s queerest – was published a year after his body was found by a roadside in Trinidad. He was 28. ‘The enigma of Harold Sonny Ladoo’, filmed in Toronto and Trinidad, draws on two decades of interviews with family, friends, and CanLit figures who shaped his career. Writers Shani Mootoo, Kevin Jared Hosein, Ramabai Espinet, David Chariandy, and Andil Gosine revisit his haunting, radical legacy.

Film page: The enigma of Harold Sonny Ladoo