Bocas Breakthrough Fellowships applications open

A new fellowship programme for early-career Caribbean writers, administered by the Bocas Lit Fest, is now open for applications.

Running from December 2023-May 2024, the Bocas Breakthrough Fellowships will support five early-career Caribbean writers based at home in the region in advancing or completing a book manuscript or other body of work, and developing their professional skills and networks in the regional and international literary world. The application deadline is October 31.

The fellowships are funded by Creative Caribbean, a joint project implemented by Unesco, the Caricom Secretariat, and UWI, with funding from the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, under the ACP-EU 11th EDF Culture Programme. Creative Caribbean brings the region’s creative community together to achieve shared goals and initiatives for the advancement of the Caribbean as a cultural and creative space and economic player.

To apply for the Bocas Breakthrough Fellowships, writers must be of Caribbean birth or citizenship, living and working in the Caribbean region, and be 18 years old or over by the application deadline. Writers must not have previously published a book-length work in any genre.

Each fellowship will include participation in a series of monthly virtual seminars with international literary professionals, six months’ mentorship from an established author, publication of a chapbook with an excerpt from the writer’s work in progress, and a stipend of US$300.

Fellows will also participate in the 2024 NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Port of Spain in April 2024, with travel and accommodation costs covered for fellows based outside Trinidad.

The Bocas Breakthrough Fellowships are the latest in the Bocas Lit Fest’s long-term series of programmes aiming at seeking out, developing, and promoting new literary talent in the Caribbean.

“From the beginning, support for emerging writers has been a main objective of the Bocas Lit Fest,” says festival and programme director Nicholas Laughlin. “Over the past 13 years, we have worked with dozens of new writers from across the region and of all ages, offering training in craft and professional development through workshops and seminars, showcasing their writing at festivals and other events, and recognising their achievements through awards.”

Laughlin said this is "an extraordinary opportunity for five writers in the Caribbean to benefit from one-on-one mentorship, seminars covering key topics in the literary sphere, and publication of their work.

The fellowships, he said, will culminate at next year’s NGC Bocas Lit Fest, where the fellows will join a special showcase event and also network with dozens of other writers publishers and literary professionals.

Writers can apply online via the Bocas Lit Fest website at www.bocaslitfest.com/awards/bocas-breakthrough-fellowships