Guardian ( Trinidad and Tobago )
02 April 2023 ( Page 43 )
GML’s Ira Mathur wins Bocas Prize for non-fiction
Books by authors from Trinidad and Tobago have swept
the three genre categories of the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize
for Caribbean Literature.
Writers Anthony Joseph, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, and Ira
Mathur have won the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction
categories of the annual prize, considered the most
prestigious award for Caribbean writing, sponsored by
One Caribbean Media. It is the second time in the 13-year
history of the award that T&T authors have won all three
categories. They will now go on to compete for the overall
prize, recognising the best book published by an author of
Caribbean birth or citizenship in the past year.
Non-fiction winner
LOVE THE DARK DAYS
by Ira Mathur
(Peepal Tree Press)
The final winner, in the non-fiction category, is the
memoir Love the Dark Days by India-born Trinidadian Ira
Mathur, already well-known as a journalist and longstanding Guardian Media Limited columnist. It is her
debut book. “In this richly layered account of a life lived
across multiple continents and spaces marked by
colonialism, Mathur boldly and bravely mines the brutal
intimacies and traumas of her grandmother’s, mother’s,
and her own life as she works towards finding belonging
in Trinidad and Tobago,” commented the judges. “While
grand in scope, as it limns generations leading lives
constrained by class, caste, colour, loss, and gendered and
colonial violence, Mathur unflinchingly confronts more
intimate internalised spaces of fear, uncertainty, and
loneliness to arrive at her own version of the New World
belonging that her literary mentor Derek Walcott urges.”
Guyana-born Lisa Outar, the editor-in-chief of the
Journal of West Indian Literature, is the chair of the nonfiction judges, joined by Ruth Borthwick, chair of the
literary organisation English PEN, and the Vincentian
writer Philip Nanton.
The prize
The overall winner of the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize, chosen
from the three genre winners and awarded US$10,000,
was announced on Saturday during the 2023 NGC Bocas
Lit Fest. The other category winners will receive
US$3,000.
The three chairs of the genre panels now make up the
final jury, joined by chief judge Bernardine Evaristo,
celebrated writer and joint winner of the 2019 Booker
Prize.
The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago is the
title sponsor of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest; OCM, First
Citizens, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts,
NLCB, and the British Council are main sponsors; Massy
Foundation and UWI are sponsors. The festival runs from
28 to 30 April 2023.
Winners of OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 2023
POETRY WINNER
Sonnets for Albert
by Anthony Joseph (Bloomsbury)
FICTION WINNER
When We Were Birds
by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
(Hamish Hamilton/Doubleday)
NON-FICTION WINNER
Love the Dark Days
by Ira Mathur
(Peepal Tree Press)