Title Sponsor
NGC Bocas Lit Fest
28 - 30 April 2023
The National Library’s conservator will conduct a workshop on the long-term preservation of paper-based collections. Topics will include identifying and combating agents of deterioration; care and handling techniques; protective enclosures and storage conditions; and simple preservation techniques.
Our series of free seminars for budding and self-published authors returns, covering crucial aspects of the book business and tips to unlock your creativity. 10–11 am: The toughest audience: writing for children, with Danielle Y.C. McClean, winner of the 2022 Bocas Children’s Book Prize 11 am–12 pm: What’s your story?: an interactive, collective, collaborative storytelling […]
Four years after our last in-person festival, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest returns to downtown Port of Spain! As we kick off, spoken word poet Shimiah Lewis performs a specially commissioned new piece welcoming readers and writers back to the festival village.
Our 2019 festival hosted a hard-hitting debate exploring how gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and class affect our political rights and our everyday lives. Now we assemble a panel of activists and experts to ask how the promise of equality written into our national anthem actually plays out for people with physical and mental differences and disabilities. […]
A lineup of three films exploring T&T’s literary and musical heritage: Port of Spain: “A Writer’s Heaven”, dir. Dion Boucaud, produced by the Bocas Lit Fest (2021, 27:00) Trinidadian actor and performer Wendell Manwarren leads a walking tour of Port of Spain from a literary perspective. The city comes alive in new and unexpected ways […]
Master calypsonians Black Sage and Dion Diaz pay tribute in song to two of T&T’s recently departed cultural exemplars: calypsonian Black Stalin and scholar Gordon Rohlehr — then they ask for your prompts to continue their extempo repartee! In partnership with the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts.
It’s a two-part, laid-back, high energy celebration of T&T’s emerging writing talent! Our New Talent Showcase spotlights up and coming authors, followed by our signature open mic event. Want to share your work in our Stand & Deliver open mic? Sign up here!
Our series of free seminars for budding and self-published authors continues, covering crucial aspects of the book business and tips to unlock your creativity. MFA FAQ, with Muli Amaye — for anyone who wants to understand what a creative writing MFA is really about, who it’s for, and how it can help you take your […]
Debut novelists Cherie Jones (How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House) and Sharma Taylor (What a Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You) share their intimate, emotional narratives about family, love, and loss. Hosted by Alake Pilgrim.
Jan Carson (The Raptures) and Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (When We Were Birds) read from their new novels exploring the unstable boundaries between this life and the next. Hosted by Hadassah K. Williams. In partnership with the British Council and the Belfast International Arts Festival.
Three powerful poets read from their debut books exploring personal and collective Caribbean histories. Featuring Desiree C. Bailey (What Noise Against the Cane), Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa (Cane, Corn & Gully) and Samantha Thornhill (The Animated Universe). Hosted by Shivanee Ramlochan.
A special showcase of debut and self-published books by T&T authors, exploring a diversity of voices, subjects, and styles. Featuring recent books by Cecily Alexander Pouchet, A.M. Ali, Carolyn Ali, Dion Carrington, Tricia Chin, Keon Francis, Rori Heffes-Doon, Gavin Luke, and Elena Molchanova.
Veteran editor Ian Randle explains the key elements of any good memoir, and what publishers look for in an autobiography.
Family responsibilities collide with individual desires and community pressures in the novels of T&T writers Kevin Jared Hosein (Hungry Ghosts) and) Celeste Mohammed (Pleasantview).
A showcase of cultural treasures from the Banyan archive!: Caribbean Eye: Visionaries (1992, 30:00) Meet four visual artists who work on a large scale: intuitive sculptor and painter Philip Moore of Guyana, monumental sculptor Alvin Marriott of Jamaica, and mas artist Peter Minshall of Trinidad. The programme is co-hosted by the ground-breaking St Lucian […]
2023 is the centenary of Samuel Selvon, one of T&T and the Caribbean’s best loved writers. A stellar lineup of authors mark this milestone with readings from Selvon’s classic fiction and their own stories and poems.
Powerful stories and poems, music and drinks, fellowship and fun: BackChat returns, with some of T&T’s most exciting LGBTQI+ writers and performers, plus some surprise guests! Featuring readings and performances by Andre Bagoo, Angelique V. Nixon, Deneka Thomas, Safiyyah Acosta, Shivanee Ramlochan, and Simmy The Trini, and a sizzling open mic! Hosted by Velvet (Phillipe Alexander)