A monthly roundup of news about Caribbean books and writers, presented by the Bocas Lit Fest.
2026 publishing preview
The new year brings a fresh wave of exciting Caribbean and diaspora titles, from both debut authors and well-established prize winners. Peepal Tree Press, among the forerunners of independent Caribbean publishing, once again releases a promising lineup, alongside offerings from Duke University Press, Simon & Schuster, Graywolf Press, and others.
January
P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance (Duke
University Press) by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau spotlights the musical superstar’s radicalising influence on his country’s sociopolitical present and future.
February
Daughter of Mother-of-Pearl (Graywolf Press) by Mandy-Suzanne Wong gathers essays on the interior lives of nonhuman invertebrates, prompting closer examinations of humanity’s empathy.
Fireflies in Winter (Berkley) by Eleanor Shearer centres on Cora and Agnes, two girls from wildly disparate backgrounds who must contend with a dangerous Nova Scotian winter of 1796.
March
Gurudeva and Other Indian Tales (Peepal Tree Press) by Seepersad Naipaul, issued as part of the press’ Caribbean Modern Classics series, presents a pioneering selection of stories in which Indian Caribbean voices write about themselves.
Here Lies a Ghost (Scholastic Press) by Shakirah Bourne puts a Barbadian spin on a classic ghost tale, combining an adolescent hazing ritual with the island’s colonial past.
April
Behold (Peepal Tree Press) by Shara McCallum, the newest collection of poems by the winner of the 2018 OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, assembles Jamaican childhood memories alongside migration narratives.
Riddled (Peepal Tree Press) by Tanya Shirley, the poet’s third collection, brings Shirley’s signature humour and eroticism to bear on new work, steeped in sensuality and life’s myriad complications.
And Then Begin Again (Guernica Editions) by H. Nigel Thomas, volume four of the author’s No Safeguards quartet, centres Millington and Jay’s seemingly idyllic marriage, which is itself no stranger to secrets.
The Bush Tea Murder (Crooked Lane Books) by Ashley-Ruth Bernier follows the machinations of an amateur sleuth on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, as she attempts to unwind a string of troubling home-grown criminal cases.
May
Boys Have Dreams Too (LMH Publishing) by Orlando Grant presents themes of resilience, mentorship, and holistic male development through the journey of an adversity-beset youth with ambitions of serving Jamaica.
Die the Long Day (Peepal Tree Press) by Orlando Patterson, a Caribbean Modern Classics novel, is set on an 18th-century Jamaican plantation, framing a nuanced and complex portrait of the master-slave relationship.
We’ve Been Here Before (Dundurn Press) by Myrtle Henry Sodhi charts an intergenerational saga between Canada and the Caribbean, drawing on elements of West African spirituality, Catholicism, and ancestral knowledge.
June
Before the Rain (Peepal Tree Press) by Christine Craig combines poetry and short fiction to evoke a palpable sense of Jamaica in all its power and history, with an emphasis on both people and place.
Later in 2026
Equinox (New Directions) by Kamau Brathwaite, completed before the late writer’s death in 2020, is a masterful collection of poems exemplifying his ideas of “tidalectics”, tracing currents of meaning and sound between human history and the natural world.
A Good Haunting and Other Stories (Akashic Books) by Carol Mitchell is the author’s debut short story collection, comprising of ten fiction pieces rooted in magical realism, drawing on the traditions of African and Caribbean storytelling.
Virgin Islands Noir (Akashic Books), edited by Tiphanie Yanique and Richard Georges, brings together stories from the British and US Virgin Islands, featuring contributions by Cadwell Turnbull, Tobias S. Buckell, Gillian Royes, and others.
Arthur Lok Jack at The Writers Centre
On Saturday 10 January at 5.30 pm, The Writers Centre, 14 Alcazar Street, St. Clair, welcomes veteran businessman and entrepreneur Arthur Lok Jack, who will discuss his new memoir, Beyond Borders. Lok Jack will be in conversation with Franka Philip, in a session open to questions and comments from the audience. Copies of Beyond Borders will be available for purchase from Paper Based Bookshop. The event is free and open to all.
Bocas Academy’s Visual Poetry Workshop for Creatives
Visual poetry will be in focus at Bocas Academy’s upcoming workshop, Write It for the Eye, to be held on Saturday 17 January, from 1 to 4 pm, at Granderson Lab, 24 Erthig Road, Belmont. The hands-on session, led by poet and Bocas Lit Fest’s Festival and ProgrammeDirector Nicholas Laughlin, will delve into innovative ways to formulate new poems, drawing on imagery, text, and design. The workshop, conducted in partnership with Alice Yard, is open to participants of all skill levels. For more information and to register, visit https://academy.bocaslitfest.com/event/write-it-for-the-eye-an-intro-to-visual-poetry/.
Paper Based Bookshop (Instagram: @paperbasedbookshop) shares its top-selling Caribbean titles for 2025, sorted by four genres:
Poetry
1. The Beginning of a Journey, by Earl Lovelace
2. The Proper Care of Knives, by Anu Lakhan
3. Polkadot Wounds, by Anthony Vahni Capildeo
4. Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting, by Shivanee Ramlochan
5. Oh Witness Dey!, by Shani Mootoo
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
1. How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair
2. The Possibility of Tenderness, by Jason Allen-Paisant
3. Love the Dark Days, by Ira Mathur
4. Beyond Borders, by Arthur Lok Jack
5. Saga Boy, by Antonio Michael Downing
Non-Fiction
1. The Village of One, by Richard Charan
2. Mixing Memory and Desire: How History Shaped Foods of the Caribbean, by Lee Johnson
3. History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past — In Honour of Bridget Brereton, edited by Heather Cateau, Rita Pemberton, and Ronald Noel.
4. Sparrow Take Over: Essays on the Bard’s Art, edited by Donna Benny
5. Salvage: Readings from the Wreck, by Dionne Brand
Fiction
1. Ever Since We Small, by Celeste Mohammed
2. Palmyra, by Karen Barrow
3. The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh, by Ingrid Persaud
4. Writing For Our Lives, edited by Diana McCaulay and Shivanee Ramlochan
5. Death in the Dry River, by Lisa Allen-Agostini
