Two
emerging Jamaican writers, one from Grenada, one from St Vincent, and four from
Trinidad and Tobago are the eight finalists for the much-coveted 2014 Hollick
Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize, now in its second year.
The
Prize, administered by The Bocas Lit Fest and worth a total of US$15,000, will
give the winning Caribbean-based writer time to advance a non-fiction work in
progress. It includes a year’s mentoring by an established author and travel to
the United Kingdom to attend a one-week intensive creative writing course of
their choice at Arvon.
The
winning writer will also receive a cash award of 3,000GBP or US$4,500, have
three days in London to network with literary professionals, hosted by the UK’s
leading creative writing organisation, Arvon, in association with Free Word
Centre and agents Rogers, Coleridge & White who have first option of
agenting the winning writer.
It
was a blind competition among 27 entrants.
“We had no idea who we were judging and we were impressed by the general
high quality of the works submitted. They ranged from the academic to the personal
and were generally imbued with original insights. Many of the works were
directed at adult audiences but some were aimed at children and young adults”,
said UWI Professor Funso Aiyejina, chair of the international judging panel of
five that comprises Lord Hollick - sponsor of the award, Godfrey Smith - 2012
non-fiction winner of the OCM Bocas Prize, Ruth Borthwick of Arvon, and London
literary agent, Jennifer Hewson.
A
statement from the judges says, “Many of the works were eloquent, insightful,
passionate and exciting. Some entries were very ambitious in scope but managed
to remain focused on their subject matters. The judges are convinced that the
works in contention for the prize venture beyond the safe shores of established
themes and promise to create new boundaries for the Caribbean non-fiction
genre.”
Marina
Salandy-Brown, festival director and co-founder of the Prize, remarked the
gender mix of Prize entrants. “In 2013 we had fewer male writers entering their
work for fiction but this year there were six, which is a much higher
proportion of male entrants for this non-fiction genre of writing, even though
only one of them made it onto the list of finalists.”
The
winner will be announced at the 2014 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago’s
annual literary festival which runs from 23 to 27 April in Port of Spain at the
National Library.
The
National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago is title sponsor of the Trinidad
and Tobago annual literary festival, now in its fourth year. One Caribbean Media
is sponsor of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. The Ministry of
Planning & Sustainable is a main sponsor and First Citizens, flow and
Courts are supporting sponsors.
See
www.bocaslitfest.com for more
information.
2014
Non-fiction Finalists
Turn Around, Judy Antoine, Grenada
Let It Fly, Melissa Balgobin,
Trinidad and Tobago
Split Level, Rhoda Bharath, Trinidad
and Tobago
17 Rest House Road, Ira Mathur, Trinidad
and Tobago
Loving Jamaica, Diana McCaulay, Jamaica
The Plight of the Humanitarian Aid
Worker,
Nadine McNeil, Jamaica
Canouan Suite, Philip Nanton, St.
Vincent
Richard Bridgens, Judy Raymond, Trinidad
and Tobago
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