Over the course of his astonishing fifty-year career, V.S. Naipaul's writing has been characterized by a commitment to truth that gives his work a unique luminosity and brilliance. In "A Writer's People" he brings unmatched clarity and rich experience to an exploration of the ways we think, see and feel. The range of this extraordinary book reflects an intellect deeply engaged with the challenges of assimilation faced by the 'serious traveller', one for whom there can be no single world view. Naipaul writes about the classical world what we have retained from it, what we have forgotten and the more recent past. Figures as diverse as Mahatma Gandhi, Derek Walcott and Gustave Flaubert come under his compassionate scrutiny, as do his own early years in Trinidad, the silences in his family history and the roles played by Anthony Powell and Francis Wyndham in his first encounters with literary culture. Part meditation, part remembrance, as elegant as it is revelatory, "A Writer's People" is a privileged insight, full of gentleness, humour and feeling, into the mind of one of our greatest writers.

英国作家奈保尔（Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul），1932年生于靠近特立尼达西班牙港的chaguanas。他家是来自北印度的移民，祖父供职于一家甘蔗种植园，父亲是一名记者。

1950年，18岁的奈保尔获政府奖学金，来到英国牛津大学专攻文学。大学期间，他的小说屡屡遭到退稿。父亲的帮助和鼓励使得他矢志不移的坚持创作。1953年，他的第一部小说 出版了。这年，他的父亲去世。奈波尔出版的《父子之间》收入了两人的往来书信。1953年成为自由赚稿人。1954-1956年，担任BBC“加勒比之声”的栏目主持人。

1990年，他得到英国皇室的封爵，1993年，成为英国戴维-柯翰文学奖的首位获奖者，2001年，获得诺贝尔文学奖。

奈保尔的作品主要由长篇小说和短篇故事构成，也包括一些记实性作品。他是一位世界主义作家，他认为这源于自己无根的状态。他对于特立尼达文化和精神的贫乏感到悲哀，他感到与印度的疏离，也不能认同与支持英格兰这个前殖民势力的传统价值。另外，他还批评印度尼西亚、伊朗、马来西亚、巴基斯坦等非阿拉伯国家中的穆斯林原教旨主义……总之，阴郁、苦涩、辛酸、对社会黑暗毫不妥协，这就是奈保尔的风格。