Guyanese author takes fictional writings to Hollywood, Trinidad screens

Jul 30, 2023 Features / Columnists, News

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By Davina Bagot

The Waterfalls Magazine – A mother of two began writing short stories in the late 1990’s to teach her kids valuable life lessons in a creative way, one in which she was sure to captivate their attention. She never envisioned that her ability to craft fictional pieces would one day make it to the grand screens across the Caribbean or the World, but today, her love for writing has blossomed beyond her wildest imaginations.

Geeta Outar-Sirjoo, a Guyanese born national, moved to the island of Trinidad when she was 20 years old. There, she spent most of her adult life raising her two children and developing her love for writing.

Though she never envisioned penning her stories, Sirjoo started writing her first book and had it published in Trinidad back in 2013. This novel, ‘Fortunate Disaster’ was inspired by a dream. Sirjoo told The Waterfalls that the details in her dream were so profound and kept provoking her until she started penning the entire thing to tell the story.

“Fortunate Disaster was my first book that was published in 2013. It was based on the monsoon rains in India. Every detail was given to me in a dream and this is what started my career,” she said.

The author explained that the book brings the love story to life of two young people in India, who were desperately pursuing an education and were infatuated by each other. The teenagers, according to the author, were separated, after disaster struck, to two different parts of the World.

While the young lady went on to study medicine, fate allowed the two young people to meet face to face 15 years after. “The boy had developed temporary amnesia and the girl was a doctor, which is how they met up after all those years in a different part of the world. Though they were separated, they were constantly thinking of each other and this showed them it was love and not just infatuation,” the writer shared.

Guyanese stories

Growing up in Annandale, Sirjoo as a young woman watched most of her family make a living by fishing activities. Her father would go out to fish, while her mother would vend the catch.

Though she migrated, the author wrote a special short story, ‘Lone Survivor’ that details the trials of fisherfolk.

“This book was published last year and is a mixture of true events and fiction. It shares the tale of how lives were lost some year ago in a trawler accident. There was indeed an accident with the trawler that caused damages to smaller boats that were anchored nearby,” she said.

A second book ‘Castles in the Sky’ features a love, drama and success story. This fictional piece tells how a young Guyanese boy leaves his country in search of a better life in neighbouring Venezuela that was at the time in the prime of its oil production.

“It tells about the challenges that brought him back to Guyana. He built an empire in Guyana but as a result of trials, he reached rock bottom but he was able to bounce back very high. It’s a love, drama, success all in one,” Sirjoo tipped.

As she progresses onto script writing, the talented author is awaiting word from a local producer on a Guyanese story ‘Secrets in the Rupununi’. This work of fiction is about a migrant girl who got caught up in prostitution but became pregnant for a married man. Sirjoo described the piece as a dangerous love triangle. She said she looks forward to her writings coming to life on this thrilling adventure.

The big screens

While in Trinidad, Sirjoo published another book ‘A Rainbow in the North’ which she said is now being used for a television series.

The book shares the story of two friends who skipped India after encountering some challenges to live in Trinidad.

Sirjoo could not release more details about this novel but underscored her excitement for her vision to come to reality. The Guyanese author said her collaboration with Stephen Lee Pow Studios has been a success as filming has commenced for the television series.

Perhaps on a larger screen however, Sirjoo is presently the lead writer for a Hollywood movie that is expected to commence filming soon.

At the audition for the television series, based on her book, ‘A Rainbow in the North’, she met two international actors who later introduced her to a Hollywood producer. She eventually became the primary writer of a movie script that is in pre-production stages of the filming of a traditional east meets west type of love story movie.

Even as she works today on perfecting a craft, she developed while teaching her children, the Guyanese woman said no young person should give up on their dreams. “As a writer sometimes, you are depressed because you feel you are not going anywhere but you have to keep going after it; so I would say dream your dream and go after it. Never give up,” she encouraged.

Sirjoo’s books are available for purchase at New Era Business and University of Success, Austin’s Book Store, and Amazon.

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• Davina Bagot, Geeta Outar-Sirjoo, Hollywood, screens, Trinidad

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