Bocas Lit Fest celebrates Caribbean Literature Day

Trinidad and Tobago joins the rest of the region in celebrating Caribbean Literature Day on July 12.

The NGC Bocas Lit Fest will host a full suite of virtual events to mark what will be only the second annual observation of the day. As awareness of the potency of Caribbean literature increases among readers, writers, publishers and book lovers in the region and diaspora, July 12 is set to become a highly-anticipated, pan-Caribbean celebration of words, stories and ideas, the Lit Fest said in a media release.

The programme includes voices from across the region in a live Facebook chat on Caribbean readership, along with recorded features on all types of writing and spoken word on its Facebook and YouTube platforms.

A special edition of the popular Pavement Poets is on point as the Caribbean continues to combat the covid19 pandemic. Spoken word performers Shimiah Lewis, Mishael Henry and Seth Sylvester, winner of the 2016 First Citizens National Poetry Slam, will deliver commissioned pieces that advocate wider vaccination uptake, in line with the messages from regional health authorities.

Stand and Deliver, the open mic series that is a staple of TT’s annual literature festival, has thrived as a virtual event and the programme includes two sessions of several regional, emerging writers presenting their original work in high-quality video recordings, the release said.

Writers need readers, and Bocas’ unique interactive BYOBB (Bring Your Own Book and Bottle) series, where readers discuss book choices in an open forum via Zoom, will also be part of the day’s activities. Felene Cayetano, poet and founding member of the Belizean Writers Guild, and Paula David, Jamaica-born, St Vincent-based member of the Caribbean Book Club, avid reader and history enthusiast, will join Bocas team members to analyse the healthy growth spurt in Caribbean book clubs.

Writers Shara McCallum, of Jamaican and Venezuelan roots, who won the 2018 OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, and Barbados-based Philip Nanton, writer and spoken-word performer from St Vincent and the Grenadines will add their insights. Nanton’s newest work, Riff: The Shake Keane Story, the biography of the important Vincentian jazz trendsetter and poet, was published earlier this year.

In 2020, the organisers of the St Martin Book Fair issued an invitation to “read the works of Caribbean authors, buy Caribbean books published in the Caribbean and beyond, and by Caribbean authors.”

The Bocas Lit Fest said it heeded the call with an online curation of past events honouring winners of the OCM Bocas Prize over the last ten years.

This year, with the expanded programme, the Bocas team “gives its full endorsement of Caribbean Literature Day, and looks forward to even bigger pan-Caribbean and international celebrations in the future,” said Marina Salandy-Brown, Bocas Lit Fest founder and director.

Tune in for free on July 12 via the Bocas Lit Fest Facebook page – www.facebook.com/bocaslitfest, and YouTube page – www.youtube.com/bocaslitfest.

NGC Bocas Lit Fest Caribbean Literature Day events

1 pm – Stand & Deliver Lunchtime Jam

3 pm – Pavement Poets

5 pm – Let’s Talk Caribbean! A BYOBB & 100 Caribbean Books That Made Us FB Live Chat

6.30 pm – Stand & Deliver Sundowner