More Than A Literary Festival

Bocas goes to Brooklyn

New York probably has a bigger concentration of Caribbean people — immigrants and diaspora descendants — than any other city in the world. And everyone knows that New York’s Caribbean capital is the borough of Brooklyn. So it’s entirely fitting that the 2012 Brooklyn Book Festival will mark the 50th anniversary of Independence in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica — and the NGC Bocas Lit Fest is thrilled to be part of the celebration, hosting a special event on Sunday 23 September, the main day of the 2012 BBF:

BOCAS Presents: The NGC Bocas Lit Fest comes to Brooklyn to celebrate 50 years of Trinidad and Tobago independence, with readings by Earl Lovelace (Is Just a Movie), Victoria Brown (Minding Ben) and Anton Nimblett (Sections of an Orange). Moderated by Nicholas Laughlin, NGC Bocas Lit Fest organiser and editor of the Caribbean Review of Books.
3.00 pm • Brooklyn Borough Hall Community Room (209 Joralemon Street)

The event is free and all are invited — we hope to see lots of our New York friends in the audience.

And the 2012 BBF programme includes other events celebrating Caribbean writing and writers, including a reading hosted by Jamaica’s Calabash International Literary Festival, immediately preceding “Bocas Presents”:

Calabash Presents: Jamaica’s legendary Calabash International Literary Festival celebrates 50 years of Jamaican independence with readings by premier Jamaican-born novelists and poets Chris John Farley (Kingston Noir), Jacqueline Bishop (Snapshots from Istanbul), and Ishion Hutchinson (Far District). Moderated by Calabash co-founder Kwame Dawes.
2.00 pm • Brooklyn Borough Hall Community Room (209 Joralemon Street)

Earl Lovelace, winner of the 2012 OCM Bocas Prize, will feature in another event earlier in the day:

Another Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into: Marie-Helene Bertino (Safe as Houses), Karen Thompson Walker (The Age of Miracles) and Earl Lovelace (Is Just a Movie) plop their characters into almost unbelievable, surreal situations. Join us as they discuss the inspiration behind these settings. Moderated by Anderson Tepper, Vanity Fair.
11.00 am • Saint Francis College Auditorium (180 Remsen Street)

The 2012 BBF programme also features appearances by Edwidge Danticat, non-fiction winner of the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize, and Tiphanie Yanique, fiction winner of the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize.

See you there!

Full programme for the 2012 Brooklyn Book Festival here.

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