Bocas Couva Festival Celebrates Local Creativity with "All Together Now" Theme

The upcoming Bocas Couva festival, themed "All Together Now," is set to celebrate the vibrant literary and cultural scene of Trinidad and Tobago on July 18 at the Lisas Gardens Community Centre. This event is the first in a series of four community festivals designed to bring the Bocas Lit Fest experience to various regions across the nation.

Georgia Popplewell, Bocas Lit Fest's managing director, highlighted the festival's inclusive ambitions. "With these four community festivals, we’re aiming to celebrate the home-grown creativity of specific parts of the country in those areas themselves," she explained. This initiative provides a platform for local writers and performers, allowing audiences to engage with their work in a more intimate context compared to the larger, main festival held in Port of Spain.

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Bocas’ annual festival in May has long featured writers and performers from all over Trinidad and Tobago, but in Port of Spain. With these four community festivals, we’re aiming to celebrate the home-grown creativity of specific parts of the country in those areas themselves, offering writers and performers from those communities a platform, and audiences a chance to experience their work in a different, and more intimate, context from the larger festival.

The festival will feature a lineup of celebrated local authors, including Kevin Jared Hosein, winner of the 2024 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel "Hungry Ghosts." Vashti Bowlah, whose writings are deeply connected to Couva, will also read from her published works, appearing alongside Couva-based self-published author Tricia Chin. Portia Subran, a recipient of the 2019 Cecile de Jongh Literary Prize, is also slated to participate.

A unique literary tour will be launched at Bocas Couva, spotlighting classic and contemporary authors and books. This tour will travel to all four community festivals. "The benefits of this virtual literary tour are both immersive and immense," said Shivanee Ramlochan, Bocas Lit Fest’s Festival and programme manager. The tour will feature readings from significant works, including Derek Walcott’s "The Saddhu of Couva," Harold Sonny Ladoo's "No Pain Like This Body," Kevin Jared Hosein’s "Hungry Ghosts," and Justin Haynes’ "Ibis." Additionally, children's programming will be a key feature, with storytellers like Jody White and Katrina Khan-Roberts set to entertain young audiences.

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The benefits of this virtual literary tour are both immersive and immense.