The NGC Bocas Youth Fest: Save the Date!
🎉This year, we’ll bring to life our first youth festival, sponsored by The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago! 🎉 We want to celebrate the young writers and readers who’ve been showing up and showing out in their schools and communities, as well as support and encourage more of our young audience to love literature! 📚✨ Check […]
The 2021 First Citizens National Poetry Slam Auditions
The 2021 First Citizens National Poetry Slam audition round was totally virtual. The Zoom platform became the new audition stage for poets across the country entering the largest spoken word challenge in the Caribbean. The Slam, now in its ninth year, is giving $50,000 to the winner. The prize is sponsored by First Citizens. Judges […]
Celebrate Caribbean Literature Day with Us!
Readers, writers, and book lovers across the region and the diaspora will celebrate “Caribbean Literature Day” on 12 July. This is the second year this date will be observed, after being proposed in 2020 by the organisers of the St. Martin Book Fair, who urge us to “Celebrate the day by reading the works of […]
Updated Eligibility Guidelines! 2021 BLF Children’s Book Prize
The Bocas Lit Fest Children’s Book Prize is still open for entries until 30 July 2021, and we have made some small adjustments to our guidelines to allow us to capture a wider range of children’s books from Caribbean writers! Here are the revised eligibility guidelines for the inaugural Bocas Lit Fest Children’s Book Prize: Works of fiction […]
Register now to audition for the FCNPS 2021
Come audition for the First Citizens National Poetry Slam 2021. This year we celebrate the resilience of poetry in a fully virtual slam! Book your spot and audition via Zoom before a panel of live judges. Progress to the televised Semi Finals and Grand Final. The stage awaits you. Audition Dates: Saturday 10th, 17th, 24th […]
Call for writers: Celebrate Caribbean Literature Day with us!
We’re celebrating Caribbean Literature Day with another edition of our popular virtual open mic series – Stand & Deliver! Open to Caribbean writers and performers at home and the diaspora, writers of all kinds and levels of experience can share their work with our audience at our 2021 Caribbean Literature Day celebrations on 12 July. Be a […]
Register for our writing workshops in October and November
We’ve got a few more workshops for 2021, across a wide spectrum of writing. Limited spots are available, so book yours now to take your writing to the next level! These creative workshops will be conducted by the best expert facilitators – visionaries in publishing, language and all aspects of writing. The workshops are all […]
Desiree Seebaran wins the 2021 Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize
TT poet Desiree Seebaran has won the 2021 Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize (JAAWP), the region’s only prize for emerging writers. In the third and final year of the Prize, dedicated to the advancement of new Caribbean voices, Seebaran won out over the other 2 shortlisted poets, Akhim Alexis and Jay T. John; all […]
Canisia Lubrin wins the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize
A book-length poem that the Prize judges consider “postcolonial poetry at its best” has triumphed in the stakes for best book by a Caribbean writer published last year. The Dyzgraphxst by St. Lucia-born poet Canisia Lubrin is the 2021 winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, which comes with an award of US$10,000, […]
Relief efforts in St. Vincent & The Grenadines
The leaves of my plum tree did not glisten when wet – Volcano Suite by Shake Keane, 1979 Even as we celebrate the legendary music and poetry of Shake Keane at the 2021 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, we are cognizant that his haunting words from Volcano Suite in 1979 are accurate descriptions for the current […]
The #bocas2021 Festival Programme
The 2021 NGC Bocas Lit Fest programme is live! Happening from April 23rd – 25th, all free, no registration required! A virtual literary walking tour; The 100 Caribbean Books That Made Us; our signature Big Ideas discussion; a robust activity-packed children’s programme; award-winning and emerging writers from across the Caribbean and its diaspora; the announcement of […]
Be a part of our 2021 Extempo Debate
We want to hear from you – come be a part of our 2021 Extempo Debate! Like last year, we’re entirely virtual and would love to include your topics for master calypsonians Black Sage and Brian London to debate, in inimitable Extempo style! Send in a prompt / topic by email, and be included in our pre-recorded […]
Calling all Caribbean writers: Register now for our 2021 Stand & Deliver
Calling Caribbean writers of all genres! Showcase your work to an international audience at an NGC Bocas Lit Fest favourite: our virtual Stand and Deliver, where writers of all kinds and levels of experience can share their work with others in an open forum. It’s where some of our now successful writers started. You can […]
The 2021 Johnson & Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize Shortlist
Akhim Alexis, Jay T. John and Desiree Seebaran, all from Trinidad and Tobago, will now compete for the 2021 Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize (JAACWP). The valuable award will enable one of them to advance their ambition as a poet. This is the region’s only prize for emerging writers, and this year’s winner […]
Register now: “How to argue your point” with Mark Lyndersay
First up in our “How To” series this year is “How to Argue your Point” with writer, editor and photographer Mark Lyndersay. This is an interactive 2-part seminar that covers the fundamentals of good opinion writing, from newspaper columns to letters and blogs. The perfect workshop for columnists, bloggers and writers, with one-on-one feedback included. […]
The 2021 Bocas Henry Swanzy Award Recipients
The 2021 recipients of the Bocas Henry Swanzy Award for Distinguished Service to Caribbean Letters. are Jamaicans Edward Baugh and Mervyn Morris — both professors emeriti of the University of the West Indies. Baugh and Morris are widely considered pioneers of the study of West Indian literature, over careers that each span half a century. […]
THE 2021 JOHNSON & AMOY ACHONG CARIBBEAN WRITERS PRIZE LONGLIST
The 2021 longlist for the region’s only prize for emerging writers, the Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize (JAAWP) has been announced by the Bocas Lit Fest. Of the ten writers longlisted for the third and last edition of the Johnson and Amoy Achong Prize, eight are from Trinidad and Tobago. This unique award […]
This Hill Alive: A Carnival Wrap-up
It may be the eeriest reign of the Merry Monarch in recent memory as Carnival 2021 in Trinidad and Tobago winds down, but certainly not the most transient. In the land where ‘the road made to walk on Carnival day’, the question of “to be or not to be” has simply been unfathomable – Carnival […]
Save the Date: 23 – 25 April
Mark your calendars and tell your friends – the NGC Bocas Lit Fest 2021 is right around the corner! We return to our early-year spot with another virtual festival programme that will leave you hugging your bookshelves and your screens. We’ll be broadcasting the festival via our website, Youtube and Facebook pages from 23-25 April, […]
CARNIVAL BODIES: AN EXPLORATION OF PERFORMING GENDER & SEXUALITY IN CARNIVAL
Carnival has notoriously been an expression of “playing yuhself”, but is this freedom equally available to all of us? Our panel takes a look at the hidden truths behind this narrative, exploring the space that may or may not exist for queerness and (un)masking in our Carnival. CARNIVAL BODIES: AN EXPLORATION OF PERFORMING GENDER & […]
A new season and theme for Bios & Bookmarks!
A new season of Bios and Bookmarks premieres this weekend with award-winning author Jacob Ross, creator of a unique Caribbean whodunnit quartet of novels. Over the next six Sundays, the series will explore the theme of “Crime and Wonderment” with new and acclaimed writers, including the conjurer of magic and myth, Monique Roffey, whose win […]
TT Writer Monique Roffey cops £30,000 Costa Book of the Year Award
Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch, a story of exclusion and exile, has firmly secured its place in literary legacy, after winning the 2020 Costa Book of the Year Award. The book was lauded as “utterly original” by the prize’s judges in a virtual announcement ceremony on Tuesday January 26, 2021. It’s a win […]
Short Story Challenge Winners Announced!
Eleven-year old Josse Franco and eight-year old Josh Hansraj top their categories in Dragonzilla’s Short Story Writing Challenge to win brand new laptops, courtesy the NGC Children’s Bocas Lit Fest! Hansraj and Franco were among 22 finalists – 11 in each age group, 5-8 and 9-12 – who advanced to the second round of the […]
TT Writers on the Costa Book Awards Shortlist
The recent announcement that two Trinidad and Tobago writers Monique Roffey and Ingrid Persaud have been shortlisted for the 2020 Costa Book Awards rounds off an impressive year for TT and Caribbean writers and writing on the world stage. Monique Roffey’s sixth novel The Mermaid of Black Conch (Peepal Tree Press), has been shortlisted for […]
What’s so great about Jean Rhys?: Online Event
For one thing, there is the first line of the Dominican author’s seminal work Wide Sargasso Sea: “They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did”, which, beyond making it to a 2006 list of 100 best first lines from novels, resonates eerily amidst the turbulence of the current socio-political climate. […]
Announcing the finalists of Dragonzilla’s Short Story Writing Challenge
Twenty-two youngsters have moved onto the second phase of Dragonzilla’s Short Story Writing Challenge, and now have a great chance at winning one of many wonderful and useful prizes! Over 100 children aged 5-12 shared their 300-400 word story on the theme “My COVID experience in Trinidad and Tobago” for the online Storywriting Challenge that […]
“How To” workshop series: Nov 12 + Nov 19
On Thursday 12 November, we’re hosting the first of two interactive online workshops with St Kitts & Nevis-born author Carol Mitchell, guiding participants through the fundamentals of writing dialogue and point of view. In the second on Thursday 19 November, Mitchell shares insights for spotting and addressing common errors in participants’ manuscripts. Both workshops are […]
Bios & Bookmarks is back for Season 3
Bios & Bookmarks Season 3 starts on Sunday 1 November! Join us for a riveting third season that kicks off this Sunday, with St. Lucian poet Canisia Lubrin. Her second collection of poems, The Dyzgraphxst (McClelland & Stewart) has been described as “a triumph of anticolonial poetics” by 2017 OCM Bocas Poetry Prize winner, Safiya Sinclair. Sunday […]
Announcing LIT’S BE REAL, a new online series from the NGC Bocas Lit Fest
On Wednesday, November 4, 2020, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest will debut a brand new online series aimed at introducing Caribbean writers to industry professionals overseas. Titled LIT’S BE REAL, the series — which takes the form of frank, solution-oriented discussions with editors, educators, agents, and more — will be hosted by Amanda Choo Quan, […]
The Write Away! Young Adult Literature Project
The Bocas Lit Fest and The Scotiabank Foundation are partnering to supply secondary schools with exciting new digital content to support virtual English classes this term. The Write Away! Young Adult Literature project is giving all schools access to five virtual creative writing workshops via the Ministry of Education’s School Learning Management System. Led by […]