ANNOUNCING the Genre Category WINNERS!

The OCM Bocas Prize 2025 for Caribbean Literature

Books by already celebrated authors from Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti have won the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction categories of the 2025 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, sponsored by One Caribbean Media, owner of the Trinidad and Tobago Express newspaper, TV6, and the OCM radio network.

The 2025 Bocas Lit Fest returns this May with a packed programme!

The 15th Bocas Lit Fest Is “Always Coming Home”

The Bocas Lit Fest returns this May with a packed programme of events for its 15th edition, with the theme “Always Coming Home.”

ANNOUNCING the AWARD for Distinguished Service to Caribbean Letters

THE 2025 BOCAS HENRY SWANZY AWARD 2025

The Journal of West Indian Literature (JWIL) has been named the recipient of the 2025 Bocas Henry Swanzy Award for its vital contribution to Caribbean literary scholarship!

Days

Hours

Minutes

Seconds

2025 Festival
1 - 4 May, Port of Spain
Trinidad & Tobago

Main Sponsors

See all 2025 festival sponsors

The Bocas Lit Fest is both a year-round organisation dedicated to developing writing and literary arts, and the name of Trinidad and Tobago’s premier annual literary festival.

Our Festival

The annual Bocas Lit Fest is a vibrant celebration of books, writers, and ideas, bringing together voices from the Caribbean and around the world.

Festival participants

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Anguilla, USA

Author

AnthonyVCapildeo-by-AileenLees-67

Anthony Vahni Capildeo

Trinidad & Tobago, UK

2021 OCM Bocas Prize Judge

celeste mohammed 2025

Celeste Mohammed

Trinidad & Tobago

Author

Erna Broadber

Erna Brodber

Jamaica

Author

Kai Thomas - Photograph by Tom Sandler

Kai Thomas

Canada

Author

Kevin-Adonis-Browne

Kevin Adonis Browne

Trinidad & Tobago

Author

Lawrence Scott

Lawrence Scott

Trinidad & Tobago, UK

Author

2019-authors-_0006_Marlon-James

Marlon James

Jamaica

Author

olive-senior

Olive Senior

Jamaica

Author

Latest news

Bocas Book Bulletin: April 2025

April 8, 2025

Three authors compete for 2025 OCM Bocas Prize

April 6, 2025

15th Bocas Lit Fest Is “Always Coming Home”

March 26, 2025

Latest from the library

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Writers First, our series of free seminars for ear

Writers First, our series of free seminars for early-career and self-published authors, returns with four seminars this year. Here are the second two:

✒Award-winning author and columnist Ira Mathur on literary journalism, criticism, and how to get your book noticed in the press
✒Cindy Allman, star book influencer, on how to use Instagram and other online tools to build an avid readership

🗓 Friday 2 May, 🕒 1-3 pm
📍AV Room, National Library, Port of Spain

🗓️Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
@irasroom @iraswriting @bookofcinz @readcaribbean @nalis868 #caribbeanwriters #writersfirst
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

Writers First, our series of free seminars for ear

Writers First, our series of free seminars for early-career and self-published authors, returns with four seminars this year. Here are the first two:

✒ Author Caroline Mackenzie on when to let go of your work in progress — how to tell if it’s ready to go to an editor or agent, or if it’s time to move on to a new project

✒ Fleur Sinclair, president of the UK Booksellers Association, on the ins and outs of international book sales and distribution

🗓 Friday 2 May, 🕒 10 am-12 pm
📍AV Room, National Library, Port of Spain

🗓️Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
@carolinemackenziewrites #FleurSinclair @nalis868 #caribbeanwriters #writersfirst
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

📣Registration is open! Designed for budding, em

Two highly anticipated new novels by past winners

Two highly anticipated new novels by past winners of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature! Set centuries apart, and epic in both scope and ambition, Olive Senior’s 'Paradise Once' and Celeste Mohammed’s 'Ever Since We Small' will make their world debuts at the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest. The authors join host Lisa Outar for a conversation about illuminating the shadowy parts of Caribbean history.

🗓 Sunday 4 May, 🕒4.30-5.30 pm
📍Old Fire Station, @nalis868, Port of Spain

📚Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!
🌎For viewers abroad, events at the Old Fire Station will be broadcast live on our website and YouTube, no sign-ups required!

One Caribbean Media Limited, First Citizens, the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Trinidad & Tobago are main sponsors of the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest; the British Council, the Windham-Campbell Prizes, Murphy Clarke Financial, the Massy Foundation, and The UWI St. Augustine are sponsors.

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
@celestemohammed @JacarandaBooks @senior.olive @AkashicBooks #caribbeanwriters #readcaribbean
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

Few public figures are under more intense scrutiny

Few public figures are under more intense scrutiny than politicians — yet how well do we really understand their motives and ambitions, and the way private lives shape public personas and policies? In their respective biographies of T&T Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Guyanese President Janet Jagan, scholars Bridget Brereton and Patricia Mohammed bring formidable skills in research and analysis to illuminating two of the Caribbean’s most influential political figures.
Authors will be in conversation with Hamid Ghany

🗓 Sunday 4 May, 🕒 4-5 pm
📍AV Room, @nalis868, PoS

📚Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

One Caribbean Media Limited, First Citizens, the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Trinidad & Tobago are main sponsors of the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest; the British Council, the Windham-Campbell Prizes, Murphy Clarke Financial, the Massy Foundation, and The UWI St. Augustine are sponsors.

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
#JanetJaganFreedomFrighterofGuyana @irpbooks #ManningFaithandVision #caribbeanwriters #readcaribbean
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

In almost every generation of T&T’s history, ord

In almost every generation of T&T’s history, ordinary people have organised forms of resistance to oppressive authority that have shaped our national self-determination. Why have so few of these stories been told? Indigenous activist Tracy Assing, researcher Satnarine Balkaransingh (Hosay Caribbean), and former Black Power revolutionary Andrea Jacob (From Freedom Fighter to True Liberation) offer insights, in a conversation chaired by UWI Professor Emerita Rhoda Reddock.

🗓 Sunday 4 May, 🕒3-4 pm
📍AV Room, @nalis868, PoS

📚Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

One Caribbean Media Limited, First Citizens, the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Trinidad & Tobago are main sponsors of the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest; the British Council, the Windham-Campbell Prizes, Murphy Clarke Financial, the Massy Foundation, and The UWI St. Augustine are sponsors.

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
@triniwildindian #caribbeanwriters #readcaribbean
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

“History” — as a way of thinking and writing

“History” — as a way of thinking and writing about the past — is inexhaustible, and we are surrounded by untold stories. For richard,charan (The Village of One) and Debbie Jacob (Police Dogs of Trinidad and Tobago), personal memories and dedicated research come together in their books that chart both individual stories and bigger social patterns. In conversation with Franka Philip

🗓 Sunday 4 May, 🕒2-3 pm
📍AV Room, @nalis868 Port of Spain

📚Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

One Caribbean Media Limited, First Citizens, the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Trinidad & Tobago are main sponsors of the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest; the British Council, the Windham-Campbell Prizes, Murphy Clarke Financial, the Massy Foundation, and The UWI St. Augustine are sponsors.

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
@debbiejunejacob @real_trinifood @irpbooks @mcfpub #caribbeanwriters #readcaribbean
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

A festival fixture returns: members of the Writers

A festival fixture returns: members of the Writers Union of Trinidad and Tobago share their latest work and offer a snapshot of current directions in contemporary Caribbean writing, with special guests Anthony Joseph and Yvonne Weekes.

🗓 Sat 3 May, 🕒4-5.30 pm
📍AV Room

📚Running from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 May, the Bocas Lit Fest — now in its 15th year — is Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of books and writers (and the Anglophone Caribbean’s biggest annual literary event) includes discussions and readings, workshops, performances, open mics, music, and films — 50 events over four days — featuring more than 100 writers, speakers, and performers.

✅We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

One Caribbean Media Limited, First Citizens, the JB Fernandes Memorial Trust, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Trinidad & Tobago are main sponsors of the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest; the British Council, the Windham-Campbell Prizes, Murphy Clarke Financial, the Massy Foundation, and The UWI St. Augustine are sponsors.

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome
@vinsuraj @anthony.joseph_poet @yvonneweekes1writer #caribbeanwriters #readcaribbean
@onecaribbeanmedia @firstcitizenstt #JBFernandesMemorialTrust @tourismcultureandarts
@britishcouncil @windhamcampbell #MurphyClarkeFinancial @MassyGroup @UWI_staugustine

Monthly Bocas Book Bulletin

Bocas Book Bulletin: April 2025

Bocas Book Bulletin: March 2025

Bocas Book Bulletin: February 2025

Titles from our publishing house

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