Bocas Lit Fest takes Caribbean writers to UK, Spain

IN October, the Bocas Lit Fest will take a literary tour to three European cities, showcasing contemporary Caribbean writing at events in London, Madrid, and Belfast.

"Featuring an exceptional lineup of ten authors, the tour celebrates the diversity and depth of recent Caribbean literature, offering audiences the opportunity to engage with some of the region’s most celebrated voices," Bocas Lit Fest said in a news release on September 25.

It said the initiative follows a highly successful UK tour organised by the Bocas Lit Fest in 2022, with events in five cities across Britain, as well as over a decade of showcasing Caribbean authors and writing at international festivals and events.

The tour kicks off on Friday 11 October at the British Library in London, with an evening of poetry and prose, exploring themes of family, history, and spirituality.

The line-up, the release said, includes Jamaican author Safiya Sinclair, whose memoir How to Say Babylon won the overall OCM Bocas Prize for 2024, and Trinidadian Kevin Jared Hosein, author of Hungry Ghosts, winner of the 2024 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction and the 2024 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

They will be joined by literary icons Lawrence Scott – past winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and author of a new book of poems – TS Eliot Prize winner Anthony Joseph, and Costa Book Award winner Monique Roffey.

Completing the programme is new Jamaican poet Christine Roseeta Walker, who recently published her debut book Coco Island.

The authors will read from their respective books and join conversations moderated by Colin Grant and Fawzia Kane, covering ground ranging from how fiction can explore social and historical tensions to how poetry can transform personal memories into universal stories.

Tickets for both in-person attendance and the British Library livestream are available online, the release said.

A few days later, on October 15, the Bocas tour will move to Casa de América in Madrid, with a free, unticketed evening programme that aims to dismantle familiar stereotypes of the Caribbean.

"Hosein and Sinclair will once again feature, alongside Ingrid Persaud, whose novel Love After Love won the Costa Book Award for Best Debut Novel," the release said.

It said the second event brings together a panel of "extraordinary poets" including Trinidadian Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Jamaican-British Hannah Lowe, and Jamaican Jason Allen-Paisant, who among them have won two Forward Prizes, a TS Eliot Prize, a Costa Book Award, and an OCM Bocas prize for poetry.

"The Madrid visit will also include a networking session for the writers to meet publishers, editors, and journalists, with the aim of promoting more translations of contemporary anglophone Caribbean writing into Spanish," it said.

The final stop on the tour brings the Bocas Lit Fest to the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast on October 17, as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival.

Hosein, Sinclair, and Roffey will read from and discuss their recent books of fiction and memoir, exploring how the most intimate relations of family and friendship are shaped by the stresses and conflicts of societies under pressure.

Tickets for this event are available from the Belfast International Arts Festival.

“From our beginning, back in 2011, the Bocas Lit Fest has had a deliberate and decisive focus on Caribbean writers, and promoting their work to the broadest international readership,” said Nicholas Laughlin, festival and programme director.

“Caribbean literature is a global literature, and the long list of awards won by our authors in recent years demonstrates a growing critical respect for Caribbean stories and voices. The writers joining our 2024 tour are a stellar cohort, among the best at work today anywhere in the world. This tour is a very fitting prelude to the Bocas Lit Fest’s upcoming milestone 15th annual festival in 2025.”

The release said the tour is sponsored by the Hollick Family Foundation, with support from partners the British Library, the Eccles Centre for the Americas, Casa de América, Kate Gavron, and the Belfast International Arts Festival.

Further information and links to purchase tickets are online at bocaslitfest.com/tour-2024.