Books by fif­teen au­thors with roots in eight ter­ri­to­ries have been short­list­ed for the 2026 OCM Bo­cas Prize for Caribbean Lit­er­a­ture, spon­sored by One Caribbean Me­dia.

The OCM Bo­cas Prize, now in its 16th year, is the most cov­et­ed award for Caribbean au­thors. It recog­nis­es books in three genre cat­e­gories — po­et­ry, fic­tion, and lit­er­ary non­fic­tion — pub­lished by au­thors of Caribbean birth or cit­i­zen­ship in the pre­ced­ing year.

The Prize judges have short­list­ed five books from each genre, with a to­tal of 15 books com­pet­ing for the over­all award. The au­thors range from new­com­ers to es­tab­lished fig­ures, in­clud­ing sev­er­al past win­ners of the Prize.

In the sec­ond stage of judg­ing for the 2026 OCM Bo­cas Prize, the win­ners in the three genre cat­e­gories will be an­nounced on March 25. These will go on to com­pete for the over­all Prize of US$10,000, to be an­nounced on Sat­ur­day, May 2, dur­ing the 16th an­nu­al Bo­cas Lit Fest in Port-of-Spain.

The 2026 Prize is judged by a pan­el of dis­tin­guished Caribbean and in­ter­na­tion­al writ­ers and lit­er­ary pro­fes­sion­als. Ray­mond Antrobus, British po­et of Ja­maican an­ces­try, chairs the po­et­ry pan­el, joined by US-based Trinida­di­an po­et Lau­ren K. Al­leyne and Ja­maican po­et Tanya Shirley. The fic­tion pan­el is chaired by Ja­maican-Amer­i­can lit­er­ary schol­ar Kel­ly Bak­er Josephs of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mi­a­mi, along­side Cana­di­an book­seller An­ju­la Gogia and T&T writer Kevin Jared Ho­sein. Chair­ing the non­fic­tion pan­el is British lit­er­ary schol­ar Al­i­son Don­nell, joined by T&T jour­nal­ist Richard Cha­ran and Guyanese-Amer­i­can schol­ar One­ka LaBen­nett.

The over­all chair of the 2026 cross-genre judg­ing pan­el is the em­i­nent British pub­lish­er, ed­i­tor, and writer Mar­garet Bus­by, win­ner of the 2015 Bo­cas Hen­ry Swanzy Award for Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice to Caribbean Let­ters.

OCM, the JB Fer­nan­des Memo­r­i­al Trust, and the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment are the main spon­sors of the 2026 Bo­cas Lit Fest; the fes­ti­val is al­so spon­sored by the British Coun­cil, the Massy Foun­da­tion, and The UWI.

The 2026 Bo­cas Lit Fest will run from Thurs­day, April 30 to Sun­day, May 3, at the Na­tion­al Li­brary, Old Fire Sta­tion and oth­er venues around Port of Spain.

The short­lists for the 2026 OCM Bo­cas Prize are:

PO­ET­RY

Heir­loom, by Cather­ine-Es­ther Cowie (Car­canet Press)

Dante’s In­fer­no, by Lor­na Good­i­son (Car­canet Press)

The World Af­ter Rain: Anne’s Po­em, by Can­isia Lu­brin (Mc­Clel­land & Stew­art)

Ground Pro­vi­sions, by Shau­na M. Mor­gan (Peepal Tree Press)

The Boy King­dom, by Achy Obe­jas (Bea­con Press)

FIC­TION

Tall Is Her Body, by Robert de la Chevotière (Erewhon Books)

The Ja­maica Kol­lec­tion of the Shante Dream Arkive: be­ing dreami­ty, al­go­rid­dims, chants & riffs, by Mar­cia Dou­glas (New Di­rec­tions)

Ibis, by Justin Haynes (Over­look Press)

Par­adise Once, by Olive Se­nior (Akashic Books)

A Dif­fer­ent Hur­ri­cane, by H. Nigel Thomas (Dun­durn Press)

NON­FIC­TION

The Pos­si­bil­i­ty of Ten­der­ness: A Ja­maican Mem­oir of Plants and Dreams, by Ja­son Allen-Paisant (Hutchin­son Heine­mann)

A Sense of Ar­rival, by Kevin Ado­nis Browne (Duke Uni­ver­si­ty Press)

Si­lence and Re­sis­tance: Mem­oir of a Girl­hood in Haiti, by Monique Clesca (River­child Lit­er­ary Press)

The Snag: A Moth­er, a For­est, and Wild Grief, by Tes­sa McWatt (Ran­dom House Cana­da/Scribe UK)

Fear­less, Sleep­less, Death­less: What Fun­gi Taught Me about Nour­ish­ment, Poi­son, Ecol­o­gy, Hid­den His­to­ries, Zom­bies, and Black Sur­vival, by Maria Pin­to (Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na Press)