The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

"The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is a major new award for literary books by Caribbean writers. It will be awarded for the first time in April 2011. Books may be entered in three categories: poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. The prize includes an award of US$10,000, sponsored by One Caribbean Media."

The longlist for the inaugural prize has been announced:

Poetry
Elegguas by Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados) — Wesleyan
A Light Song of Light by Kei Miller (Jamaica) — Carcanet
White Egrets by Derek Walcott (St. Lucia) — Faber

Fiction
The Loneliness of Angels by Myriam Chancy (Haiti/Canada) — Peepal Tree
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord (Barbados) — Small Beer
The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — Knopf Canada
How to Escape a Leper Colony by Tiphanie Yanique (US Virgin Islands) — Graywolf

Non-fiction
Beauty and Sadness by Andre Alexis (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — House of Anansi
Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti/USA) — Princeton
The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief by V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago/UK) — Picador

The shortlist will be released on March 28, and the winner will be announced on April 30, during the Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad & Tobago. More info: http://www.bocaslitfest.com/ocm-bocas-prize.html

Interesting list, almost all books/authors I've not heard of (except, of course, Walcott, Naipul, and Danticat), but I've actually read one, How to Escape a Leper Colony.

I have White Egrets, which I'm planning to read this month, and I liked Create Dangerously. I just purchased the Kindle version of Redemption in Indigo, and I'll look out for How to Escape a Leper Colony. I've heard of Kamau Brathwaite but I don't own anything by him, so I'll look for Elegguas. I think I'll pass on the Naipaul, though.

This is an exciting addtiton to the world of prizes!

The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

LATEST NEWS:

The judges for the 2012 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature have announced the winner: Is Just a Movie, by Earl Lovelace.

Poetry winner:
The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman, by Loretta Collins Klobah (Puerto Rico)

Fiction winner:
Is Just a Movie, by Earl Lovelace (Trinidad and Tobago)

Non-fiction winner:
George Price: A Life Revealed, by Godfrey P. Smith (Belize)

Thanks for posting this, bergs. Is Just a Movie sounds very interesting, so I'll look for it later this week.

Yes, thanks. I meant to check out a few of the long list titles and haven't done it yet.

The 2013 OCM Bocas Prize longlist, announced in February, included ten books in the three genre categories, with a further three books receiving special mention:

POETRY

Dark and Unaccustomed Words, by Vahni Capildeo (Trinidad and Tobago)
Fault Lines, by Kendel Hippolyte (St. Lucia)
South Eastern Stages, by Anthony Kellman (Barbados)

Special mention:
The Festival of Wild Orchid, by Margaret Ann Lim (Jamaica)

FICTION

This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Díaz (Dominican Republic/USA)
Archipelago, by Monique Roffey (Trinidad and Tobago)
Light Falling on Bamboo, by Lawrence Scott (Trinidad and Tobago)
God Carlos, by Anthony C. Winkler (Jamaica)

NON-FICTION

The Predicament of Blackness: Postcolonial Ghana and the Politics of Race, by Jemima Pierre (Haiti/USA)
The Sky’s Wild Noise: Selected Essays, by Rupert Roopnaraine (Guyana)
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire, by Andrea Stuart (Barbados)

Special mention:
Abolition and Plantation Management in Jamaica, 1807–1838, by Dave St Aubyn Gosse (Jamaica)
Ismith Khan: The Man and His Work, by Roydon Salick (Trinidad and Tobago)

The 2013 OCM Bocas Prize consisted of the winning books in the three genre categories was announced in April

POETRY: Fault Lines, by Kendel Hippolyte (St. Lucia)

FICTION: Archipelago, by Monique Roffey (Trinidad and Tobago)

NON-FICTION: The Sky’s Wild Noise: Selected Essays, by Rupert Roopnaraine (Guyana)

http://www.bocaslitfest.com/the-ocm-bocas-prize-for-caribbean-literature/

The longlist for this year's award was announced on Tuesday:

POETRY

Edward Baugh, Black Sand: New and Collected Poems
Malika Booker, Pepper Seed
Lorna Goodison, Oracabessa
Roger Robinson, The Butterfly Hotel

FICTION

Robert Antoni, As Flies to Whatless Boys
Edwidge Danticat, Claire of the Sea Light
Kerry Young, Gloria

NON-FICTION

Gaiutra Bahadur, Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture
Carole Boyce Davies, Caribbean Spaces: Escapes from Twilight Zones
Kei Miller, Writing Down the Vision: Essays and Prophecies

"The winners in the three genre categories will be announced on 30 March, and the Prize will be presented on 26 April, during the fourth annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Port of Spain. The overall winner of the Prize will receive a US$10,000 award."

More info: http://www.bocaslitfest.com/2014/ten-writers-vie-for-the-2014-ocm-bocas-prize/

The only one I've read of this year's long list is Claire of the Sea Light, and I loved it. Some other readers were not impressed, but we all have different tastes.

Thanks for posting the list.

Authors from five territories have made the longlist for the 2015 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

Poetry:

Lucian Vladimir, Sounding Ground
Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion
Tanya Shirley, The Merchant of Feathers

Fiction:

Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
Monique Roffey, House of Ashes
Tiphanie Yanique, Land of Love and Drowning

Non-Fiction

Elizabeth Nunez, Not for Everyday Use
Dorbrene E. O’Marde, King Short Shirt: Nobody Go Run Me
Olive Senior, Dying to Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal

The winners in each category will be announced on 1 April,

Authors from five territories have made the longlist for the 2015 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

Poetry:

Lucian Vladimir, Sounding Ground
Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion
Tanya Shirley, The Merchant of Feathers

Fiction:

Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
Monique Roffey, House of Ashes
Tiphanie Yanique, Land of Love and Drowning

Non-Fiction

Elizabeth Nunez, Not for Everyday Use
Dorbrene E. O’Marde, King Short Shirt: Nobody Go Run Me
Olive Senior, Dying to Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal

The winners in each category will be announced on 1 April,

I really loved Land of Love and Drowning, but am not familiar with the other books.

I've had A History of Seven Killings on my list of books to read for each of the past three months, but I've been too busy at work to get to it. It's a door stopper, but hopefully I'll get to it in the spring.

Winners:

- Poetry: Vladimir Lucien, Sounding Ground
- Fiction: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
- Non-fiction: Olive Senior, Dying to Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal

2016 OCM Bocas Prize longlist

POETRY

BURN, by Andre Bagoo
Providential, by Colin Channer
Wife, by Tiphanie Yanique

FICTION

Fifteen Dogs, by Andre Alexis
The Whale House and Other Stories, by Sharon Millar
The Pain Tree, by Olive Senior
Special mention:
Madinah Girl, by Anna Levi

NON-FICTION

The Gymnast and Other Positions, by Jacqueline Bishop
’Membering, by Austin Clarke
Ties That Bind: The Black Family in Post-Slavery Jamaica, 1834–1882, by Jenny M. Jemmot

and the winners are

POETRY

Wife, by Tiphanie Yanique (Peepal Tree Press)

FICTION

The Pain Tree, by Olive Senior (Cormorant Books)

NON-FICTION

The Gymnast and Other Positions, by Jacqueline Bishop (Peepal Tree Press)

2017 longlist

The judges for the 2017 OCM Bocas Prize chose a longlist of nine books: three each from the three genre categories.

POETRY

House of Lords and Commons, by Ishion Hutchinson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Kingston Buttercup, by Ann-Margaret Lim (Peepal Tree Press)
Cannibal, by Safiya Sinclair (University of Nebraska Press)

FICTION

The Marvellous Equations of the Dread, by Marcia Douglas (Peepal Tree Press)
The Repenters, by Kevin Jared Hosein (Peepal Tree Press)
Augustown, by Kei Miller (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)

NON-FICTION

The First Black Slave Society: Britain’s “Barbarity Time” in Barbados, 1636–1876, by Hilary McD. Beckles (University of the West Indies Press)
Virtual Glimpses into the Past/A Walk Back in Time: Snapshots of the History of Trinidad and Tobago, by Angelo Bissessarsingh (Queen Bishop Publishing)

The judges for the 2017 OCM Bocas Prize have announced the winners of the three genre categories, which now form the shortlist for the overall prize:

POETRY: Cannibal, by Safiya Sinclair (University of Nebraska Press)

FICTION: Augustown, by Kei Miller (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)

NON-FICTION: Virtual Glimpses into the Past/A Walk Back in Time: Snapshots of the History of Trinidad and Tobago, by Angelo Bissessarsingh (Queen Bishop Publishing)