Trinidad and Tobago writers dominate OCM Bocas award longlist

The book covers of the nine longlisted books for the OCM Bocas Prize 2021. -
The book covers of the nine longlisted books for the OCM Bocas Prize 2021. -

Five TT-born writers have been longlisted for the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. The other four authors represent Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, and St Lucia.

The OCM Bocas prize is now in its 11th year and is sponsored by One Caribbean Media. The prize recognises books in three genre categories – poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction – published by authors of Caribbean birth or citizenship in the preceding year, said a media release.

Ingrid Persaud 

In the poetry category, the longlist brings together three writers ranging from a literary veteran to a debut author.

Country of Warm Snow by Trinidadian Mervyn Taylor – the author’s sixth book of poems – tackles the experience of living between two countries over five decades. “Smoothness, clarity, and a sense of narrative that does not break with the line: these characteristics make Country of Warm Snow a rare book that reads with deceptive ease,” the judges said in the release. “These poems move fluidly across time and borders while being rooted deeply in place.”

The Dyzgraphxst, the second book by Canada-based St Lucian Canisia Lubrin, is described by the judges as “a journey where meaning is often an unpaved road, but the ride is richly satisfying…Reading this collection makes you hold your breath and dive to the ocean-floor and emerge riding the waves.”

Guabancex is the first poetry collection by Celia Sorhaindo of Dominica. Named for a Taino storm deity, the book was inspired by the impact of 2017’s Hurricane Maria on the author’s home country. These poems, the judges write, “build momentum….spiralling in and out, searching to find language, form and expression to hold the vastness and the vulnerability of life on an island…Sorhaindo manages to convey a collective trauma that moves through and beyond pain and loss to what is valuable and possible.”

The fiction category includes two debut novels and the latest book by a former winner of the OCM Bocas Prize.

Gordon Rohlehr 

These Ghosts are Family, the first book by US-based Jamaican Maisy Card, portrays a family and its entanglements over multiple generations. “At its heart,” the judges said, “is the story of Caribbean enslavement and the legacy of trauma it has passed down from generation to generation. The way it tackles this live and current theme is always fresh and innovative.”

It is joined by Love after Love, by UK-based, TT-born Ingrid Persaud, who tells a story of deep love, deep violence, and the meaning of family. “Above and beyond anything else,” the judges said, “Persaud creates characters that we truly care for – feeling their highs and lows, cheering when they succeed and mourning their losses when they fail.”

The third book in the category is The Mermaid of Black Conch by UK-based, TT-born Monique Roffey, who previously won the 2013 OCM Bocas Prize for Archipelago. Her new novel is “a unique Caribbean fable that takes the familiar story of a mermaid abruptly thrust onshore and brings it to a new place,” according to the judges. “It reads like the work of a novelist in command of her material and focused on using a mythic ‘then’ to speak to now.”

The judges believe Caribbean non-fiction is in excellent hands for this genre category, including books ranging from personal essay to memoir to cultural criticism. The “boldly experimental” memoir of colour by US-based Trinidadian Katherine Agyemaa Agard incorporates visual material into its narrative, “does not hide shame or confusion as the author comes to terms with how others interpret her colour, race, sexuality, and art, and how she thinks about herself,” the judges explained. The Undiscovered Country, a “wonderfully intelligent” collection of diverse essays on literary, artistic, and political topics by Trinidadian Andre Bagoo, “is full of insights and surprises,” wrote the judges. “Where else would you find Trinidadian street food in the same volume as an appraisal of Thom Gunn's poetry, or Dylan Thomas rubbing shoulders with soca?”

Gordon Rohlehr 

The final non-fiction book selected for the longlist is the memoir Musings, Mazes, Muses, Margins by Gordon Rohlehr, the Guyanese literary scholar based in Trinidad since the late 1960s. Including autobiography told through a split personality and a playful dream diary, the book shows “at turns, the dark wit of J'Ouvert, the gleeful frenzy of the Savannah stage, and the contemplation of an Ash Wednesday service,” the judges said.

In the next stage of judging for the OCM Bocas prize, the judges will announce the winners in the three genre categories on March 28. These will then go on to compete for the overall prize of US$10,000, which will be announced on April 24 during the annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest. The Lit Fest will run from April 23-25 and will take place online.

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