Four days to change the world is the focus of the 2022 Bocas Litfest
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Roger Robinson Author, OCM Bocas Prize Judge Trinidad & Tobago, UK 
Pamela Mordecai Author Canada, Jamaica 
Merle Hodge Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Kei Miller Author Jamaica 
Alissa Trotz Speaker Canada, Guyana 
Olive Senior Author, Bocas Children’s Book Prize Judge, Children’s Author Jamaica 
Jason Allen-Paisant Author Jamaica 
Canisia Lubrin Author St. Lucia 
Aaron Duncan Performer Trinidad & Tobago 
Amílcar Sanatan Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Rosamond S. King 2021 OCM Bocas Prize Judge, Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Lisa Allen-Agostini Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Shivanee Ramlochan Author Trinidad & Tobag 
John L. Williams Author UK 
Shani Mootoo Author Canada, Trinidad & Tobago 
Angelique V. Nixon Author 
Deneka Thomas Spoken Word Poet Trinidad & Tobago 
Hadassah K. Williams Trinidad & Tobago Author 
Akhim Alexis Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Simone Leid Trinidad & Tobago Author 
Rajiv Mohabir Guyana, USA Author 
Nicole Cecilia Delgado Puerto Rico Author 
Amanda Hernández Author Puerto Rico 
Urayoán Noel Puerto Rico Author 
Ana Portnoy Brimmer Puerto Rico Author 
Jayron Remy Speaker Trinidad & Tobago 
Aaron Kamugisha Barbados Author 
Opal Palmer Adisa 2021 OCM Bocas Prize Judge, Author Jamaica 
Sunity Maharaj Trinidad & Tobago Speaker 
Carole Boyce Davies Trinidad & Tobago Speaker 
Honor Ford-Smith Canada, Jamaica Speaker 
Derron Sandy Trinidad & Tobago Spoken Word Poet 
Kyle Hernandez Trinidad & Tobago Spoken Word Poet 
Dominique Friday Trinidad & Tobago Author 
Gabrielle Murray Trinidad & Tobago Author 
Kleon McPherson Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Canisia Lubrin Author St. Luci 
Coryn Anaya Clarke Children’s Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Josh Hansraj Children’s Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Marina Salandy-Brown Speaker Trinidad & Tobago 
Mila Smith Children’s Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Naila Baynes Children’s Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Neala Bhagwansingh Children’s Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Georgia Popplewell Speaker Trinidad & Tobago 
Gillian Goddard Speaker Trinidad & Tobago 
Nicholas Laughlin Author Trinidad & Tobago 
Funso Aiyejina Author Nigeria, Trinidad & Tobago 
Merle Hodge Author Trinidad & Tobago
“Four Days to Change the World” is the promise of the 2022 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago’s annual festival of words, stories, and ideas, which recently launched its upcoming virtual programme.
This is the 12th year of the festival, the largest annual literary event in the Anglophone Caribbean—also its 11th year with the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) as title sponsor, and its third year presenting a virtual programme, running from April 28 to May 1, streaming online via YouTube, Facebook, and the festival website, www.bocaslitfest.com.
With 20 events and almost 100 participants, the 2022 NGC Bocas Lit Fest includes readings, discussions, and performances featuring writers and others whose work grapples with the immense changes we are living through, and the essential changes we urgently need in order to create a more just and more liveable world.
Each of the four festival evenings has its own thematic focus—from reconsidering essential figures of the past and exploring the power of the written word to seeking out untold stories and tackling difficult but crucial topics.
Literature lovers can look forward to hearing from the celebrated Jamaican poets Olive Senior and Pamela Mordecai, T&T’s own beloved novelist Merle Hodge, a panel of poets exploring recent developments in the Puerto Rican literary scene, and the debut author Ayanna Lloyd Banwo in the Caribbean launch of her already acclaimed novel When We Were Birds.
And the 2022 winner of the most coveted award for Caribbean writing, the OCM Bocas Prize, will be announced on Saturday, April 30 at a virtual ceremony, featuring readings by the three shortlisted authors, Celeste Mohammed of T&T and Jamaicans Kei Miller and Jason Allen-Paisant.
The festival’s popular Stand and Deliver sessions, a long-time programme fixture, will give writers of all levels a chance to present their work, and a new “Required Reading” series will put the spotlight on key recently published books.
Each of the four festival evenings has its own thematic focus
Meanwhile, the festival weekend will also bring the launch of the NGC Children’s Bocas Lit Fest’s new YouTube channel, a dedicated home for engaging Caribbean content for younger readers, from read-alouds to musical performances and workshops. The new children’s channel, launching on April 30, will offer convenient on-demand programming which children can watch and re-watch on their own schedule, with new content added throughout the year.
The NGC Bocas Lit Fest’s 2022 “season of change” opened in January with a special edition of the festival’s ongoing Pavement Poets video showcase, and continues with the current seventh season of the Bios & Bookmarks author interview series, running until April 21 with the theme “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
The festival weekend’s “Four Days to Change the World” are the culmination of this programme, encompassing needful change in all its forms—cultural and social, individual and collective.
The festival schedule is now available online at www.bocaslitfest.com, with frequent news of Bocas Lit Fest events and projects posted on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @bocaslitfest.
NGC is the title sponsor of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, OCM, First Citizens, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts are main sponsors, Massy Foundation and UWI are sponsors.
