The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is the

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

literary festival that takes place annually during the last weekend of April in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

. Inaugurated in 2011, it is the first major literary festival in the

southern Caribbean The Southern Caribbean is a group of islands that neighbor mainland South America in the West Indies. Saint Lucia lies to the north of the region, Barbados in the east, Trinidad and Tobago at its southernmost point, and Aruba at the most westerly ...

and largest literary festival in the

Anglophone Caribbean The languages of the Caribbean reflect the region's diverse history and culture. There are six official languages spoken in the Caribbean: :* Spanish (official language of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, Bay Islands (Honduras), ...

. A registered non-profit company, the festival has as its title sponsor the

National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) is a state-owned natural gas company. It was created by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1975. NGC operates in the field of gas pipelines, industrial sites, gas production, por ...

(NGC). Other sponsors and partners include First Citizens Bank, One Caribbean Media (OCM), who sponsor the associated

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, inaugurated in 2011 by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, is an annual literary award for books by Caribbean writers published in the previous year.Commonwealth Foundation The Commonwealth Foundation (CF) is an intergovernmental organisation that was established by the list of Commonwealth heads of government, Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1966, a year after its sister organisation, the Commonwealth Secre ...

. The NGC Bocas Lit Fest also works in collaboration with other international festivals and initiatives, and has hosted events showcasing Caribbean writing talent in New York, at the Brooklyn Book Fair, the

Harlem Book Fair The Harlem Book Fair is the United States' largest African-American book fair and the nation’s flagship Black literary event. Held annually in Harlem, New York, the Harlem Book Fair features exhibition booths, panel discussions, book sales, an ...

and elsewhere in the US. In 2012, Bocas partnered with the Edinburgh World Writers Conference as part of a lineup of 14 countries delivering a multinational series of talks marking the 50th anniversary of the five-day meeting of "an impressive, sensational and sometimes scandalous group of writers" at the first Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama. The Bocas Lit Fest was described by

Claire Armitstead Claire Armitstead FRSL is a British journalist and author. She is Associate Editor (Culture) at ''The Guardian'', where she has worked since 1992. She is also a cultural commentator on literature and the arts, and makes appearances on radio and t ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as "expansive in its cultural reach, reflecting a region that has responded to its own colonisation over the centuries by seeding its people to every continent".

Background

The Bocas Lit Fest was established in 2011, with the organising team comprising

Marina Salandy-Brown Marina Salandy-Brown FRSA, Hon. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL, is a Trinidad & Tobago, Trinidadian journalist, broadcaster and cultural activist. She was formerly an editor and Senior Manager in Radio and News and Current Affair ...

, founder and managing director; programme director

Nicholas Laughlin Nicholas Laughlin (born 6 May 1975)"In brief"
Nicholas Laughlin's website. is a writer and editor from

Caribbean Review of Books ''The Caribbean Review of Books'', or ''CRB'', is a literary magazine based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, reviewing books of Caribbean interest—by Caribbean authors or about the Caribbean—and publishing original fiction, poetry, and other liter ...

'' and of ''

Caribbean Beat ''Caribbean Beat'', founded in 1992, is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories. It is distributed in-flight by ...

'';

Funso Aiyejina Funso Aiyejina (1 January 1949 – 1 July 2024) was a Nigerian poet, short story writer, playwright and academic. He was Dean of Humanities and Education (until his retirement in 2014) and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies. ...

, prize-winning author and dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; Marjorie Thorpe, former professor of literature at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, independent bookseller Joan Dayal of Paper Based Bookshop; Danielle Delon, editor of ''The Letters of Margaret Mann''; local businesswoman Lucita Esau; and Patrice Matthews, a marketing and media professional.About the NGC Bocas Lit Fest.
/ref> In 2019, Rani Lakhan-Narace was appointed as president of the Bocas Lit Fest.Julien Neaves
"Bocas president: Festival keeps on growing"
''Trinidad and Tobago Newsday'', 1 April 2020. The festival's name derives from the Spanish word for mouth, ''boca'' – the organ of speech and song and storytelling – while also referencing the

Bocas del Dragón The Bocas del Dragón (Dragon's Mouths) are the series of straits separating the Gulf of Paria from the Caribbean Sea. There are four Bocas, from west to east: * The Boca Grande or Grand Boca separates Chacachacare from the Paria Peninsula and ...

(the Dragon's Mouths), which are the narrow straits off Trinidad’s north-west peninsula that connect the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; ) is a shallow ( at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries by as little as at its narrowest and at its widest points. T ...

to the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. For centuries, the Bocas were the gateways connecting Trinidad to the Caribbean and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The festival's strapline is: "Celebrating books, writers, and writing from the Caribbean and the rest of the world". The main venues are the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

(NALIS) and the Old Fire Station, in downtown

, with satellite evening events at venues around the city. There is also a full programme of activities for young readers, sponsored by

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

, and in the run-up to the festival storytelling events take place in

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

Couva Couva is a town in west-central Trinidad, south of Port of Spain and Chaguanas and north of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando and Point Fortin. It is the capital and main urban centre of Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo, and the Greate ...

Chaguanas The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing
– Afr ...

, San Fernando,

Point Fortin Point Fortin, officially the Republic Borough of Point Fortin, the smallest Borough in Trinidad and Tobago is located in southwestern Trinidad, about southwest of San Fernando, in the historic county of Saint Patrick. After the discovery of ...

, Mayaro and

Arima Arima, officially The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima is the easternmost and second largest in area of the three boroughs of Trinidad and Tobago. It is geographically adjacent to Sangre Grande and Arouca at the south central foothills of the ...

. A new venture is a year-round programme of events at The Writers Centre (TWC) at Alcazar Street, Port of Spain, and the 10th anniversary celebrations of Bocas in 2020 included plans for Caribbean writers with new books to participate in UK literary festivals as well as events at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

History

The Bocas Lit Fest was held for the first time in 2011 – from Thursday, 28 April to Sunday, 1 May – including readings, panel discussions, workshops, film screenings and art exhibitions. Attracting 3,500 attendances over the four days. the festival reflected its founder's aims "to promote literature and publishing in Trinidad and Tobago and the need for Caribbean writing to be celebrated everywhere". The scores of writers taking part in the 2012 festival, both locally based and from abroad, included Fred D'Aguiar,

Earl Lovelace Earl Wilbert Lovelace (born 13 July 1935) is a Trinidad and Tobago novelist, journalist, playwright, and short story writer. He is particularly recognized for his descriptive, dramatic fiction on Trinidadian culture: "Using Trinidadian dialect ...

Vahni Capildeo Vahni Anthony Ezekiel Capildeo (born Surya Vahni Priya Capildeo, 1973) is a Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer, and a member of the extended Capildeo family that has produced notable Trinidadian politicians and writers (including V. S. Nai ...

, Chika Unigwe,

Monique Roffey Monique Pauline Roffey (born 1965) is a Trinidadian-born British writer and memoirist. Her novels have been much acclaimed, winning awards including the 2013 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, for ''Archipelago'', and the Costa Book o ...

Kenneth Ramchand Kenneth Ramchand (born 1939) is a Trinidad and Tobago people, Trinidad and Tobago academic and writer, who is widely respected as "arguably the most prominent living critic of Caribbean fiction". He has written extensively on many West Indian au ...

Mervyn Morris Mervyn Eustace Morris OM (born 21 February 1937) is a poet, writer, editor and professor emeritus at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. His poetry is well respected throughout the Caribbean, which has consistently ranked him amon ...

, Achy Obejas, Rabindranath Maharaj,

George Lamming George William Lamming OCC (8 June 19274 June 2022) was a Barbadian novelist, essayist, and poet. He first won critical acclaim for '' In the Castle of My Skin'', his 1953 debut novel. He also held academic posts, including as a distinguished ...

, professor of genetics Steve Jones,

Merle Hodge Merle Hodge (born 1944) is a Trinidadian novelist and literary critic. Her 1970 novel '' Crick Crack, Monkey'' is a classic of West Indian literature, and Hodge is acknowledged as the first black Caribbean woman to have published a major work of f ...

Rahul Bhattacharya Rahul Bhattacharya (born 1979) is an Indian journalist and novelist. He currently resides in New Delhi. Biography Rahul Bhattacharya was born in Bombay (Mumbai) in India, and lived briefly as a baby in Calcutta. His father was Bengali, though bo ...

, and Michael Anthony. The festival featured readings, discussions, performances, workshops, screenings of films based on Caribbean writing and music. In 2013, the South+Central NGC Bocas Lit Fest, scheduled to take place annually in November, was inaugurated. In November 2014, NGC Bocas Lit Fest South was hosted by Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) in San Fernando, birthplace of the writer Sam Selvon, and the festival commemorated the 20th anniversary of his death. In 2014, "Festival Radio" was inaugurated, to "bring the festival experience to listeners around the globe", as well as attracting "a lot of attention on social media, spurred on in part by the active new media presence of the festival itself". As of 2022, Nicholas Laughlin has been the festival and programme director of the Bocas Lit Fest, with Marina Salandy-Brown remaining as the festival's president.

Recognition

In February 2017, the Bocas Lit Fest was named as one of "the world's very best literary events" in a list of "20 Best Literary Festivals Around the World That You Should Attend" chosen by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

- The Writers' Academy, alongside other prestigious festivals including

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

. Another accolade, from Jonathan Ford of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' in May 2017, noted: "In the seven years since Bocas launched, Caribbean writers have been heaped with international accolades — the 2015

Man Booker Prize for Fiction The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, four

Forward Prizes for Poetry The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

between 2014 and 2016, and a slew of

National Book Awards The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. Virtually all the writers honoured — including Marlon James,

Kei Miller Kei Miller (born 24 October 1978) is a Jamaican poet, fiction writer, essayist and blogger. He is also a professor of creative writing.Vahni Capildeo Vahni Anthony Ezekiel Capildeo (born Surya Vahni Priya Capildeo, 1973) is a Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer, and a member of the extended Capildeo family that has produced notable Trinidadian politicians and writers (including V. S. Nai ...

— were first recognised at this extraordinary little festival in the tropics, a place that is only far away to those who refuse to read." The Bocas Lit Fest, together with its founder Marina Salandy-Brown, was honoured by the

International Women's Forum The International Women's Forum (IWF), founded in 1974 as the Women's Forum of New York, is an invitation-only women's organization with some 7,800 members. Its mission is "to support the women leaders of today and tomorrow". The IWF hosts two co ...

(IWF) in the "Ideas Remaking the World" segment of IWF's World Leadership Conference in November 2021, being described as "the embodiment of Caribbean vibrancy, energy and creativity".

Associated initiatives

The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

The centrepiece of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest festival is the announcement at an award ceremony of the overall winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Entries for the prize are in the categories of fiction, non-fiction and poetry for a book by a Caribbean writer published in the previous year, with the overall winner being chosen by a panel of judges from the three genre winners. The winners have been: in 2011,

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott OM (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as ...

's poetry collection ''White Egrets'', in 2012

's novel ''Is Just a Movie'', in 2013

's novel ''Archipelago'', in 2014

Robert Antoni Robert Antoni (born 1958) is a West Indian literature, West Indian writer who was awarded the 1999 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction by ''The Paris Review'' for ''My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head''. He is a Guggenheim Fellow for 2010 f ...

's novel ''As Flies to Whatless Boys'', in 2015

Vladimir Lucien Vladimir Lucien (born 16 March 1988), ''ARC Magazine''. is a writer, critic and actor from St. Lucia. His first collection of poetry, ''Sounding Ground'' (2014), won the Caribbean region's major literary prize for anglophone literature, the OCM Bo ...

's ''Sounding Ground'' (poetry), in 2016 Olive Senior's ''The Pain Tree'' (fiction), in 2017

Kei Miller Kei Miller (born 24 October 1978) is a Jamaican poet, fiction writer, essayist and blogger. He is also a professor of creative writing.Augustown ''Augustown'' is a 2016 novel by Jamaican writer Kei Miller. ''Augustown'' was published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2016 and by Pantheon Books in the US. It is Miller's third novel; he is also a poet. Plot The book is based on an h ...

'' (fiction), in 2018 Jennifer Rahim's ''Curfew Chronicles'' (fiction), and in 2019 Kevin Adonis Browne's ''High Mas'' (non-fiction).

The Emerging Caribbean Writers Prize (formerly the Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize)

The Emerging Caribbean Writers Prize, formerly known as the Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize, is jointly administered by the Bocas Lit Fest and the creative writing organisation Arvon, and is an award that allows an emerging Caribbean writer living and working in the Caribbean to devote time to developing or finishing a literary work in-progress, with support from an established writer as mentor."The Emerging Caribbean Writers Prize"
, NGC Bocas Lit Fest. Sponsored by the Hollick Family Charitable Trust for a period of three years (2013–15), and announced at the Bocas Lit Fest in 2012 by Sue Woodford-Hollick, the prize was awarded to writers in three literary genres over consecutive years: fiction in 2013; non-fiction in 2014; and poetry in 2015. The first winner in 2013, for fiction, was Barbara Jenkins of Trinidad & Tobago. The winner in 2014, for non-fiction, was Jamaican Diana McCaulay. In 2015, the prize was awarded to poet Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné.

The Bocas Henry Swanzy Award

The Bocas

Henry Swanzy Henry Swanzy (14 June 1915 – 19 March 2004) was an Anglo-Irish radio producer in Britain's BBC General Overseas Service who is best known for his role in promoting West Indian literature particularly through the programme ''Caribbean Voices'' ...

Award for Distinguished Service to Caribbean Letters (named after the influential producer of the

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

programme '' Caribbean Voices'' that ran from 1943 to 1958) was inaugurated at the 2013 NGC Bocas Lit Fest,Zahra Gordon
"Bocas Lit Fest adds new award"
''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'', 21 March 2013. as an "annual lifetime achievement award to recognise service to Caribbean literature by editors, publishers, critics, broadcasters, and others". In 2013, the award was made to John La Rose (posthumously) and Sarah White of New Beacon Books. In 2014, the award was jointly won by Professors

and

Gordon Rohlehr Gordon Rohlehr (20 February 1942 – 29 January 2023) was a Guyana-born scholar and critic of West Indian literature, noted for his study of popular culture in the Caribbean, including oral poetry, calypso and cricket. He pioneered the academic ...

. The 2015 recipient was

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

. The 2016 award went to Jeremy Poynting of

Peepal Tree Press Peepal Tree Press is a publisher based in Leeds, England which publishes Caribbean, Black British, and South Asian fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and academic books. Poet Kwame Dawes has said: "Peepal Tree Press's position as the leading pu ...

. In 2017, the award went to Joan Dayal, the owner of one of Trinidad and Tobago's leading independent bookshops, Paperbased Book Store. The 2018 honour went to

Anne Walmsley Anne Walmsley (born 1931) is a British-born editor, scholar, critic and author, notable as a specialist in Caribbean art and literature, whose career spans five decades. She is widely recognised for her work as Longman's Caribbean publisher, and ...

, previously an editor and publisher for Longman Caribbean and Africa, who produced two key Caribbean literature anthologies: ''The Sun’s Eye'' and ''Facing the Sea''. In 2019, the awardee was publisher

Ian Randle Ian Randle OD (born 7 July 1949) is a Jamaican publisher. He is the founder of an eponymous independent publishing company whose main focus is on English-language readers. He has won awards including the Prince Claus Award in 2012 and the 2019 ...

. The 2021 recipients were Edward Baugh and

, both professors emeriti of the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

and

won the 2022 award. Trinidad-born scholar Sandra Pouchet Paquet received the award in 2023, and Guyana-born publisher Arif Ali was announced as the 2024 winner. In 2025, ''The Journal of West Indian Literature'' was honoured with the award.

The Burt Award for Caribbean Literature

The Bocas Lit Fest additionally administers the Burt Award sponsored by CODE (Canadian Organization for Development Through Education) for Caribbean authors of literature for young adults, launched in 2013. The first-place winner in 2014 was A-dZiko Gegele, in second place was Joanne Hillhouse and in third place Colleen Smith-Dennis. In 2015, first prize went to Imam Baksh. In second place was Diana McCaulay and third was Lynn Joseph. The 2016 prize winner was debut novelist Tamika Gibson, with Florenz Webbe Maxwell of Bermuda second, and Danielle Y. C. McClean in third place. The 2017 winner was Viviana Prado-Núñez (Puerto Rico/USA), with

Kevin Jared Hosein Kevin Jared Hosein (born 1986) is a Caribbean writer from Trinidad and Tobago. He writes novels, books for children and young adults, and short stories. His writing has appeared in Granta, '' Lightspeed'' magazine, ''Wasafiri'', and on BBC Radio ...

(Trinidad & Tobago) as runner-up, and

Lisa Allen-Agostini Lisa Allen-Agostini (born 1970s) is a Trinidadian journalist, editor and writer of fiction, poetry and drama. She is also a stand-up comedian, performing as "Just Lisa". Allen-Agostini has been a columnist for the '' Trinidad and Tobago Guardi ...

(Trinidad & Tobago) in third place.

Caribbean Literature Action Group (CALAG)

Launched in 2012 was the Caribbean Literature Action Group (CALAG), a new partnership between the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

, and

Commonwealth Writers Commonwealth Writers (established in 2011) is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation. It aims to inspire, develop and connect writers across the Commonwealth. Its flagship is a literary award for short stories, the Commonwealth S ...

, aimed at supporting the development of Caribbean writing and publishing. Public initiatives of the project use the "CaribLit" brand."About Us"
CaribLit – Caribbean Literature Action Group.