OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 2027

#bocaslitfest
Five people stand on a stage in front of a screen announcing the 2026 OCM Bocas Prize; two individuals in the centre hold crystal awards for Caribbean literature.
Submissions are now open for the 2027 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, accepting entries in poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. Visit bocaslitfest.com for details.

About The Prize

The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is an annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers, first presented in 2011. Books are judged in three categories: poetry; fiction — both novels and collections of short stories; and literary nonfiction — including books of essays, biography and autobiography, history, current affairs, travel, and other genres, which demonstrate literary qualities and use literary techniques, regardless of subject matter.

There is a panel of three judges for each genre category, who determine category shortlists and winners.

The three category winners are then judged by a panel of four judges — consisting of the chairs of the category panels and the prize chair — who determine the overall winner.

The author of the book judged the overall winner will receive an award of US$10,000. The other category winners will receive US$3,000

Past Winners

Book cover for The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief by OCM Bocas Prize-winning author Tessa McWatt, featuring a green woodcut illustration of a bare tree.

2026

Overall and Nonfiction Winner: The Snag: A Mother, a Forest, and Wild Grief, by Tessa McWatt (Random House Canada/Scribe UK)

Poetry Winner: The World After Rain: Anne’s Poem, by Canisia Lubrin (McClelland & Stewart)

Fiction Winner: Ibis, by Justin Haynes (Overlook Press)

Book cover for Village Weavers by Myriam J. A. Chancy, a work of Caribbean literature featuring large yellow sunflowers against a bright orange background.

2025

Overall and Fiction winner: Village Weavers, a novel by Myriam J.A. Chancy
 
Poetry winner: Polkadot Wounds, by Anthony Vahni Capildeo
 
Nonfiction winner: Salvage: Readings from the Wreck, by Dionne Brand
Book cover for the award-winning Caribbean literature memoir “How to Say Babylon” by Safiya Sinclair, featuring a hand holding yellow scissors near black dreadlocks on a green background.

2024

Overall and Nonfiction winner: How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair
 
Fiction winner: Hungry Ghosts, by Kevin Jared Hosein
 
Poetry winner: The Ferguson Report: An Erasure, by Nicole Sealey

2023

Overall and fiction winner: When We Were Birds, by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

Poetry winner: Sonnets for Albert, by Anthony Joseph

Nonfiction winner: Love the Dark Days, by Ira Mathur

2022

Overall and fiction winner: Pleasantview, by Celeste Mohammed

Poetry winner: Thinking With Trees, by Jason Allen-Paisant

Nonfiction winner: Things I Have Withheld, by Kei Miller

Book cover for “The Dyzgraphxst” by Canisia Lubrin, featuring a motion-blurred black and white portrait with striking graphic design.

2021

Overall and poetry winner: The Dyzgraphxst, by Canisia Lubrin

Fiction winner: These Ghosts Are Family, by Maisy Card

Nonfiction winner: The Undiscovered Country, by Andre Bagoo

Book cover of Epiphaneia by Richard Georges, featuring an illustration of cracked stone segments on a white background.

2020

Overall and poetry winner: Epiphaneia, by Richard Georges

Fiction winner: Everything Inside, by Edwidge Danticat

Nonfiction winner: Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging, by Tessa McWatt

Book cover for “High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture” by Kevin Adonis Browne, featuring a close-up of a blue-painted torso wearing a cross, capturing Trinidad and Tobago heritage.

2019

Overall and nonfiction winner: High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture, by Kevin Adonis Browne

Poetry winner: Doe Songs, by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné

Fiction winner: Theory, by Dionne Brand

Book cover for the Curfew Chronicles, featuring abstract paper-like layers.

2018

Overall and fiction winner: Curfew Chronicles, by Jennifer Rahim

Poetry winner: Madwoman, by Shara McCallum

There was no nonfiction winner for 2018, as the judges did not believe any of the eligible books “could be held to represent the best of regional writing”

Book cover for “Augustown” by Kei Miller, featuring a red silhouette of a child’s head against a yellow background.

2017

Overall and fiction winner: Augustown, by Kei Miller

Poetry winner: Cannibal, by Safiya Sinclair

Nonfiction winner: Virtual Glimpses into the Past/A Walk Back in Time: Snapshots of the History of Trinidad and Tobago, by Angelo Bissessarsingh

Book cover for “The Pain Tree” by Olive Senior, featuring a profile illustration of a woman wearing a headscarf beside a symbolic tree in a style of dark art.

2016

Overall and fiction winner: The Pain Tree, by Olive Senior

Poetry winner: Wife, by Tiphanie Yanique

Nonfiction winner: The Gymnast and Other Positions, by Jacqueline Bishop

Book cover for Sounding Ground by Vladimir Lucien, featuring a red-toned painting of figures gathered around a tree, evoking a resonant soundscape.

2015

Overall and poetry winner: Sounding Ground, by Vladimir Lucien

Fiction winner: A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James

Nonfiction winner: Dying to Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal, by Olive Senior

Book cover for the novel As Flies to Whatless Boys, featuring a single palm tree centred on a distressed paper background.

2014

Overall and fiction winner: As Flies to Whatless Boys, by Robert Antoni

Poetry winner: Oracabessa, by Lorna Goodison

Nonfiction winner: Writing Down the Vision: Essays and Prophecies, by Kei Miller

Book cover for Archipelago by Monique Roffey, featuring a small boat on a calm tropical sea.

2013

Overall and fiction winner: Archipelago, by Monique Roffey

Poetry winner: Fault Lines, by Kendel Hippolyte

Nonfiction winner: The Sky’s Wild Noise: Selected Essays, by Rupert Roopnaraine

Stylised portrait of Earl Lovelace with “Is just a movie” above his head and his name at the bottom, celebrating the cinema icon.

2012

Overall and fiction winner: Is Just a Movie, by Earl Lovelace

Poetry winner: The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman, by Loretta Collins Klobah

Nonfiction winner: George Price: A Life Revealed, by Godfrey P. Smith

Book cover for the Caribbean literature title “White Egrets” by Derek Walcott, featuring white and light blue text on a dark blue background.

2011

Overall and Poetry winner Derek Walcott – White Egrets

Nonfiction winner: Edwidge Danticat, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work

Fiction winner: Tiphanie Yanique, How to Escape a Leper Colony