The third OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature has been announced open for entries for 2013. In just two years, this annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers has become the region’s most sought after, as Trinidad’s Guardian reports. 

The US$10,000 prize is sponsored by One Caribbean Media and is open to writers of Caribbean birth or citizenship living anywhere in the world, whose book was published in the previous year.

It is a cross-genre prize for fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with the winning book in each category having a chance to win the overall prize. In its inaugural year, 2011, White Egrets, the poetry collection by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, was the overall winner and in 2012, Earl Lovelace’s novel, Is Just A Movie, won the big prize.

The Trinidad-resident Lovelace has been taking part in various international literary events, including the Brooklyn Book Festival, since winning the OCM Bocas Prize in April and is expected to appear at the Hay literary festival in Cartagena, Colombia, in January.

Marina Salandy-Brown, director and founder of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest at which the prize is presented, said, “this prize, apart from rewarding excellence, has helped bring much needed attention to the writing that is taking place here in this country and the rest of the Caribbean, which will be beneficial to all writers by providing more opportunities to be published and promoted.”

The 2013 NGC Bocas Lit Fest takes place from April 25-28 at the National Library of Port-of-Spain and the adjacent Old Fire Station.

For information about the Prize, see the Web site: www.bocaslitfest.com.