Literary prizes serve an important purpose for authors, publishers and readers. Through the winners, and the long and shortlists, prizes highlight exceptional writing, expose readers to books they might not otherwise hear about and offer a financial reward to practitioners of a craft for which it is very difficult to make money. In this issue, we highlight the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, which announced its overall winner on 27 April.
Launched in 2011, the prize is open to published books by writers of Caribbean birth or citizenship, which are judged in three categories: poetry, fiction and literary non-fiction. The Bocas Prize is of real importance because it is one of the few significant awards specifically for Caribbean writers. The overall winner, who collects US$10,000, is announced at the…
