Novelist Earl Lovelace wins US$10,000 OCM Bocas prize

Trinidadian novelist, playwright and short-story writer, Earl Lovelace, was awarded the winning prize of US$10,000 for Caribbean Literature at the NGC Bocas Lit Festival.

On April 28th, the gifted Trinidadian author won the 2012 OCM Bocas prize for Caribbean Literature for his work Is Just a Movie.

In the Trinidad Express article, One Caribbean Media group chief executive officer Dawn Thomas said the NGC Bocas Lit Fest calls attention to the literary product and potential of gifted Caribbean brothers and sisters.

“In nearly 100 events, NGC Bocas 2012 exalts the brilliantly successful, while encouraging all those still ardently striving to find their voices and to give expression to a Caribbean vision of life and the world,” she said at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest OCM Bocas Prize Announcement Ceremony at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain.

She even paid tribute to Keith Smith: “Over the last year, OCM have ourselves become publishers, with the release in December 2011 of The Best of Keith Smith. We are proud to offer this collection of pieces by the late great Express editor and columnist, to take its place alongside the works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, being celebrated at NGC Bocas Lit Fest 2012.”
ABOUT: The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is a major award for literary books by Caribbean writers. Books may be entered in three categories: poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. The prize includes an award of US$10,000, sponsored by One Caribbean Media. The inaugural OCM Bocas Prize, presented in April 2011, was won by Derek Walcott’s White Egrets.