By Ben Antao  »  As Goans continue to migrate and put down roots in various parts of the world, they hunger to read literature written by Goans with roots in Goa. This hunger reflects their quest for identity and their need to nurture and celebrate it. 

Following the end of the Portuguese colonial rule over Goa in1961, a number of Goan writers have published novels and short stories, contributing to a growing body of Goan literature in English. I myself have published four novels and several short fiction pieces, in addition to a memoir Images of Goa, plus essays and articles bearing on Goa. 

In a recent essay published in the souvenir of the 2008 International Goan Convention held in Toronto in July, Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, 83, wrote that Goan literature in the diaspora continues to flower and bear fruit. He singled out the novel O Signo da Ira by the late Orlando da Costa who wrote this pro-Goa book during the Salazar regime in Portugal.  

Orlando is quoted as saying about O Signo da Ira: “My first novel was written, above all, for what might be called civic reasons, because it really was the call of Goa and its people that had the strongest and most decisive effect on me.” 

Victor, who lives in the U.S. but spends at least four months a year in Goa, published his first novel Tivolem in 1998. The story taking place in a fictitious village called Tivolem in Goa is a love story set in the 30s with a theme of universal significance.  

Nostalgia for Goa also runs through many other novels. In a Brown Mantle by Peter Nazareth of Iowa has Goan characters in his novel set in Uganda. 

The late Lino Leitao of Montreal published a novel The Gift of the Holy Cross in 1999, which is set in Goa and deals with the caste system during the freedom struggle from the Portuguese rule. Lino taught in Uganda before immigrating to Canada in the late 60s. 

My first novel Blood & Nemesis was published in 2005. It also deals with the freedom struggle in Goa covering the period 1946-62.  Another novel of mine, The Tailor’s Daughter (2007) is about a young Goan woman from Nairobi and her dream and struggle to break out of the caste barrier through love and marriage. Most of the action takes place in Margao, Goa.   

Also published in 2007 was Love and Samsara, a historical novel by Eusebio Rodrigues of Maryland, USA, now retired as professor emeritus of English literature from Georgetown University.  This is an epic novel set in 16th century India and blends history, adventure, love and spirituality during the arrival of the Portuguese to India and Goa. 

Books by Ben Antao:

1. Images of Goa, 1990, a memoir covering the years 1943-64. ($25)
2. Goa A Rediscovery, a travelogue of Goa, 2004. ($10)
 
3. Blood & Nemesis, 2005 ($25)
 
4. Penance, 2006, a novel about a love quadrangle set in Toronto. ($25)
  
5. The Tailor's Daughter, 2007 ($25)
 
6. Living on the Market, 2008, a novel about a supply teacher of Toronto who is trying to support his family by playing the stock market. ($25)

7. The lands of Sicily/Le terre di Sicilia, 2008, a bilingual travelogue (Italian and English) about the author's visit to Sicily in October 2007. (25)
8. Images of the USA, 2009, a travelogue about the author’s experiences as a journalist in the U.S. in 1966/67. ($25)

Other Goan books: 

Novels:  

• The Gift of the Holy Cross by Lino Leitao ($20)

• The Sixth Night by Silviano Barbosa ($20)

• Last Bus to Vasco by Brian Mendonca ($10)

• Dance of the Peacock by Cheryl Antao-Xavier ($15) 
• Heart Beat by Marinella Proenca ($15)

• Eve’s Revenge by Ethel Da Costa ($20)  

Memoir:  

• Domnic's Goa by Domnic Fernandes ($20) 

• Goencho Saib By Rajan Narayan  ($10) 



• In Black and White, (Essays on the Media in Goa) ed. Frederick Noronha ($10)  

• Goa --Sweet land of Mine by Goa Foundation ($10)    
• Picture-Postcard Poverty by Kalanand Mani and Frederick Noronha ($10)  
• The Hindus of Goa and the Portuguese Republic (1922) by Antonio de Noronha (Portuguese); English translation by Ave Cleto Afonso (2008) Bilingual.($20)  

• Goa..Goan...Goaing...Gone? by Alexyz Fernandes ($25)  

• All of the above books are available from Ben Antao in Toronto. Email:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it