The book by the well-known authors of Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti won the 2025 OCM Bocas for Caribbean Literary Awards in the category of Poetry, Fiction and Non-Fiction (organised by 1 Caribbean Media Limited). These three books form a list of finalists for the overall prize money to be announced on Saturday, May 3rd at the 2025 Bocas Light Fest. A warm congratulations to the winner!
The winners of the three genre categories are as follows:
The winner of the poem – Polka dot scarsAnthony Vahni Capildeo (Carcanet)
The winner of fiction – Village WeaverMiriam Ja Chansi (Ting House)
Non-fiction winners – Salvage: Measurements from shipwrecksDionne Brand (Knopf Canada/Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
Explanation (from Bocas Light Fest): In its 15th year, the annual OCM Bocas Award recognizes the best books published by the author of the Birth or Citizenship of the Caribbean, and is considered the region’s most prominent literary award.
Three Chairs in the Genre Panel – Alexis Poling Gamb (Poetry), Dennis DeKaisna Line (Fiction), and Rinaldo Scott (Non-Fiction) – formed the final ju umpire.
The overall winner of the 2025 OCM Bocas Award will be selected from three genre winners and will be awarded US$10,000. Winners in other categories receive USD 3,000 each.
For more information about the winners of the 2025 genre, please visit to read what the judges had to say about each book. https://bocaslitfest.com/awards/ocm/
[. . .] The festival will be held from Thursday, May 1st to Sunday, at the National Library and the former Fire Station, as well as other venues around the Port of Spain.
For more information, please see https://www.bocaslitfest.com/
