Shivadhar Srinivasa Naipaul was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad. He was a descendant of Indian indentured laborers who had been transported to the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean in the nineteenth century by British colonialists. Because of this, Naipaul brought many of the typical concerns of the doubly displaced colonial subject into his writings. Often thrust under the shadow of his older brother, V. S. Naipaul, he wrote about the intimidating burden of expectation that plagued him in his pursuit of a writing career. He completed his education at Queen’s Royal College and St. Mary’s College, Trinidad, following which he won an “island scholarship” to study at the University College, Oxford. He later married Jenny Stuart and had a son named Tarun with her.