Twenty early-career writers from seven different Caribbean territories have been shortlisted for the 2022 Bocas Emerging Writers Fellowships, to be awarded in two genre categories for poetry and prose. Scheduled to run for a period of six months, and offering tangible support for emerging writers to advance or complete a body of work, the two
The Bocas Lit Fest team are saddened by the death of our colleague Wayne Bowman, veteran journalist and features editor at the Trinidad and Tobago Express newspaper, one of our media partners. Our team worked regularly with Wayne in recent years to share news of our projects and programmes, and we’ll miss his expertise on
All of us at the Bocas Lit Fest are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Sarah White (1941–2022), co-founder of New Beacon Books with her partner John La Rose, and a true and practical friend to generations of Caribbean writers, artists, and activists. White was the co-recipient of the first Bocas Henry Swanzy
The poetry collection The Kids by Jamaican-British writer Hannah Lowe was named the winner of the 2021 Costa Book of the Year Award, one of the most coveted literary honours in the United Kingdom, at a ceremony on 1 February. It comes with a prize of £30,000. This is the second year in a row
A new year is a chance to reflect on the changes we face and the changes we need. In this special edition of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest’s Pavement Poets series, five of T&T’s most talented spoken word poets share their hopes for 2022
The Bocas Lit Fest is perhaps the most successful NGO to launch in Trinidad and Tobago in this millennium. In December 2010 it was registered as a not-for-profit organisation, and in April 2011 T&T had its first fully-fledged annual literary festival. It has kept coming back, year after year, not missing a beat, even through
We enjoyed her writing and appreciated her commentary on topical issues which demonstrates a critical approach that is much needed in the mainstream. We believe Harmony’s work will have widespread reach and great impact. We strongly feel she has the potential to become a voice for her generation.” Franka Philip, Head Judge, NGC Bocas Youth
Over twelve consecutive days during the festivities of Christmas, we’ll celebrate Caribbean literature on our social media with “12 Days of Reading”! At the top of the current international agenda are the extreme perils of climate change, and the Caribbean archipelago is particularly endangered by the increasing pace of global warming. In 12 Days of
English Literature students and teachers will soon have access to a digital course that focuses on Caribbean poetry and features local poets and literary experts. All interested schools and teachers can find out more and register to be a part of the Write Away! Poetry Series here. Write Away! (Year Two) will roll out to
When Life Gives You Mangoes, by Jamaican Kereen Getten, has won the first-ever Bocas Lit Fest Children’s Book Prize, 2021. Getten, who grew up in Jamaica and now lives in the UK, has previously written short stories for multiple publications including Notts Review and Adhoc Fiction, and was nominated for Best Short Fiction 2018. Her
