OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, inaugurated in 2011, is an annual literary award for books by Caribbean writers published in the previous year.^[1] It is the only prize in the region that is open to works of different literary genres by writers of Caribbean birth or citizenship.^[2]

The prize award is US$10,000 and is sponsored by One Caribbean Media.^[1] Books may be entered in three categories: poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction.^[1] The judges select the best book in each genre category, which three books form the shortlist for the prize, from which the overall winner is then chosen. The overall winner of the prize is announced at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Winners

Blue Ribbon () = overall winner

• 2011^[3][4]
  • Fiction: Tiphanie Yanique, How to Escape a Leper Colony
  • Non-fiction: Edwidge Danticat, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work
  • Poetry: Derek Walcott, White Egrets^[5][6]

• 2012^[7]
  • Fiction: Earl Lovelace, Is Just a Movie
  • Non-fiction: Godfrey P. Smith, George Price: A Life Revealed (about George Cadle Price)
  • Poetry: Loretta Collins Klobah, The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman

• 2013^[8]
  • Fiction: Monique Roffey, Archipelago
  • Non-fiction: Rupert Roopnaraine, The Sky’s Wild Noise: Selected Essays
  • Poetry: Kendel Hippolyte, Fault Lines

• 2014^[9][10]
  • Fiction: Robert Antoni, As Flies to Whatless Boys
  • Non-fiction: Kei Miller, Writing Down the Vision
  • Poetry: Lorna Goodison, Oracabessa

• 2015^[11][12]
  • 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^[13][14][15]
  • Poetry: Tiphanie Yanique, Wife
  • Fiction: Olive Senior, The Pain Tree
  • Non-fiction: Jacqueline Bishop, The Gymnast and Other Positions

Notes

1. The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
2. "OCM Bocas Prize enters sixth year", Daily Express (Trinidad), 6 September 2015.
3. "Three Caribbean writers on 2011 OCM Bocas Prize shortlist". bocaslitfest.com. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
4. "Derek Walcott wins OCM Bocas Prize". Trinidad Express. April 30, 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
5. "Government Congratulates Hon. Derek Walcott for Winning Inaugural Literature Award." Targeted News Service [TNS], 9 May 2011. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 30 September 2012. Gale Document Number: GALE|A255881541
6. "Walcott wins Caribbean prize" (2011), Caribbean Today, p. 13. Database: Ethnic NewsWatch. ProQuest document ID: 870629941
7. "Lovelace savours Lit Fest victory". Trinidad Express. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
8. Essiba Small (July 15, 2013). "Bocas winner’s cover goes Underground". Trinidad Express. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
9. "Top three for OCM Bocas Prize named". T&T Guardian. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
10. Anna Ramdass, "‘Whatless Boys’ wins it for writer Antoni", Trinidad Express Newspapers, 27 April 2014.
11. "Top three books named for 2015 OCM Bocas Prize", NGC Bocas Lit Fest, 31 March 2015.
12. Wayne Bowman, "St Lucian poet wins OCM Bocas Prize", Trinidad Express Newspapers, 3 May 2015.
13. "Announcing The 2016 OCM Bocas Prize Shortlist", 24 March 2016.
14. "2016 OCM Bocas Prize Shortlist", The OCM Bocas Prize For Caribbean Literature.
15. "Olive Senior Wins The 2016 OCM Bocas Prize", Bocas News — NGC Bocas Lit Fest, 2 May 2016.

External links

• The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature official website.