Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival

Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival The only literary festival in the US solely dedicated to Caribbean literature.

The BCLF is committed to celebrating Caribbean culture through the pen of the storyteller and the voice of the poet in a manner that is wholly and uniquely Caribbean.

HERE IS THE LONGLIST FOR THE 2026 BCLF ELIZABETH NUNEZ AWARD FOR WRITERS IN THE CARIBBEAN under the theme What Cannot Be...
08/03/2026

HERE IS THE LONGLIST FOR THE 2026 BCLF ELIZABETH NUNEZ AWARD FOR WRITERS IN THE CARIBBEAN under the theme What Cannot Be Done Alone.

Entries were adjudicated by Kevin Jared Hosein and Carol Mitchell.

· Nikita Blair (GY) - Bury Your Longing in the Isle of Gigha
· June Aming (TT) - Fire Steps
· Akim Kamara Goddard (BD) - First One in We Family
· Ruth Osman (GY) - Gods at Play
· Christina Katrina Smith (BD) - Hard-Ears Bernard
· Yakima Cuffy-Bazil (DM) - Hit Me With Music
· Joanne C. Hillhouse (AG|BA) - Holiday J’ouvert
· Aprille Thomas (BD) - Kill Devil
· Onella Grant (JA) - Lilith & The Time Machine
· Hadassah Williams (TT) - One to Go
· Darryn Boodan (TT) - Pretend You Are a God
· Zephrine Royer (MT) - River Mouth
· Donna Hitlal (TT) - The Last Rosary

Photography & Design by Patrick Rasoanaivo

Sponsored in part by The Rumpus moleskine Pree Lit Moko Magazine

ANNOUNCING THE 2026 LONGLIST FOR THE BCLF ELIZABETH NUNEZ CARIBBEAN AMERICAN WRITER’S PRIZE under the theme What Cannot ...
08/03/2026

ANNOUNCING THE 2026 LONGLIST FOR THE BCLF ELIZABETH NUNEZ CARIBBEAN AMERICAN WRITER’S PRIZE under the theme What Cannot Be Done Alone

Thanks to our judges Roberto Carlos-Garcia, Bernice McFadden and Khari Dawkins for their care and attention to the entries. Tag a writer you know!

· Isabelle Dupuy (HT) - A Funeral Dress
· Ofelia Brooks (BZ) - Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature
· Stephen Narain (GY|BS) - Artificial Intelligence/The Sun Also Rises
· Lena Inglis (SLU) - Before the Morning Comes
· Zabe Bent (JA) - Big Likkle Girl
· Sidnie Paisley Thomas (JA) - Census
· Michelle Allyshia Belle (DM)- Daybreak
· Jodi-Ann Morris (JA) – Dipped
· Nadili Soman (TT) - Eat the Peace
· Kaitlyn Sookdeo (TT) - Ebb & Flow
· Amina Washington (AG) - Elmo
· Yasmine Diaz (HT|PR) - Sakrifis/Sacrifice
· Jovante Anderson (JA) - Strange Fruit
· Roger-Mark De Souza (TT) - Take Me Home
· Elizabeth V. Best (BD) - Tamarind House - Dreams & Schemes
· Kirk V. Bhajan (TT) - The Soucouyant of Rio Claro
· Ramon Carty (JA) - To Bury The Distance
· Hanif James (JA) - To Die in Secret
· Kwame LaBassiere (DM) - What Cannot Be Done Alone
· Saucy Crocs (HT) - What the Water Carries

Photography & Design by Patrick Rasoanaivo

Sponsored by moleskine The Rumpus

We are pleased to announce the New York screening of ‘Beach Inna Bondage’!This vital documentary by Dutch filmmakers Emi...
08/03/2026

We are pleased to announce the New York screening of ‘Beach Inna Bondage’!

This vital documentary by Dutch filmmakers Emiel Martens and Elsie Vermeer, created in collaboration with JaBBEM and Grammy-winning artist KEZNAMDI, excavates a century-long dispossession: the systematic privatization of Jamaica’s beaches and the erasure of public access to less than one percent of the island’s coastline.

What emerges is a troubling pattern. A colonial-era Beach Control Act (still in effect) combined with all-inclusive tourism has transformed public shorelines into private holdings, repeating the logic of plantation systems: monopolizing land, concentrating wealth, exporting profits, displacing communities, and marginalizing the very people from whom these beaches were taken.

Through three the frontline struggles for Bob Marley Beach, the Blue Lagoon, and Mammee Bay, the film asks an urgent question: who does tropical paradise serve, and at what cost?

The screening will be followed by a riveting conversation with Tao Leigh Goffe, author of ‘Dark Laboratory’, whose interdisciplinary scholarship traces histories of race, climate, and geology through island studies and artistic practice; Devon Taylor, biomedical scientist and president of the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement, whose instrumental work leading legal battles and grassroots resistance has positioned JaBBEM as a vital force for coastal and environmental justice across the Caribbean; and Dantaé Elliott, a scholar of contemporary Caribbean art, diaspora, and material culture, whose curatorial and editorial work centers Caribbean voices and creative resistance.

Beach access is a matter of historical, economic, social, cultural, and environmental justice not just in Jamaica, but across the Caribbean and the world.

Next week is for the kiddies! 🥳🥳🥳On Sat 8 August, meet us at Bom Kids for STICKFIGHTING & STORYTIME feat. some of Brookl...
08/02/2026

Next week is for the kiddies! 🥳🥳🥳

On Sat 8 August, meet us at Bom Kids for STICKFIGHTING & STORYTIME feat. some of Brooklyn’s cultural icons.

At 12:15pm, we form a kalinda circle with Something Positive for a stickfighting experience combining music, movement, rhythm studies and oral tradition. It’s a unique opportunity for kids to explore the unique martial arts form practised in Trinidad associated with its carnival.

At 1:15pm, we’ll convene for interactive storytime with the new picture book, ‘Spree: The Boy Who Made the Steelpan Sing’ by award-winning writer, Celeste Mohammed

The book is about Spree Simon, a young boy from Trinidad who brought the iconic steelpan to the attention of the world, and this event weaves live steelpan musical accompaniment throughout the reading of the story!

Read by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor mother of hip hop legend Malik Phife Dawg Taylor of a Tribe Called Quest and community mama, the session features popular Brooklyn-based steelpan musician, Chillz Chillzz 🇹🇹🇹🇹

Curious kiddies will also have an opportunity to play a few notes at the end of storytime!!

Space is limited! DM us if interested

Presented in partnership with Brooklyn Children's Museum in celebration of Caribbean Heritage

art & design by Patrick Rasoanaivo

thingstodoinbrooklyn

Aug 1, 2026 marks 192 years since the abolition of enslavement in the British Caribbean. These islands and territories w...
08/01/2026

Aug 1, 2026 marks 192 years since the abolition of enslavement in the British Caribbean. These islands and territories were the laboratory for the colonial complex that would spread throughout this hemisphere, and here, the enslaved freedom fighters chafed against their bonds. With blood and courage, they opened new worlds of possibility for us, their descendants.

We’ve compiled a reading list that honours and continues their struggle against absolute domination, while recognizing the insurmountable power of the ancestors who survived centuries of attempted annihilation. Our societies were built on their backs. They made us who we are.

As CLR James wrote in ‘Black Jacobins’, discussing the Haitian Revolution: “The people who made them, the problems and the attempts to solve them, are peculiarly West Indian, the product of a peculiar origin and a peculiar history.”

That’s why we’ve created merch that carries these names forward, so you can keep close the memory of the brave men and women who gave their lives for ours and will support organisations like ours to help us remember.

Next week is for the kiddies! 🥳🥳🥳On Sat 8 August, meet us at Brooklyn Children's Museum for STICKFIGHTING & STORYTIME fe...
08/01/2026

Next week is for the kiddies! 🥳🥳🥳

On Sat 8 August, meet us at Brooklyn Children's Museum for STICKFIGHTING & STORYTIME feat. some of Brooklyn’s cultural icons.

At 12:15pm, we form a kalinda circle with Something Positive for a stickfighting experience combining music, movement, rhythm studies and oral tradition. It’s a unique opportunity for kids to explore the unique martial arts form practised in Trinidad associated with its carnival.

At 1:15pm, we’ll convene for interactive storytime with the new picture book, ‘Spree: The Boy Who Made the Steelpan Sing’ by award-winning writer, Celeste Mohammed

The book is about Spree Simon, a young boy from Trinidad who brought the iconic steelpan to the attention of the world, and this event weaves live steelpan musical accompaniment throughout the reading of the story!

Read by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor mother of hip hop legend Malik Phife Dawg Taylor of a Trine Called Quest and community mama, the session features popular Brooklyn-based steelpan musician, Chillz Chillzz 🇹🇹🇹🇹

Curious kiddies will also have an opportunity to play a few notes at the end of storytime🎶🎵

Space is limited! Visit Brooklyn Children's Museum for tickets!

Presented in partnership with Brooklyn Children's Museum in celebration of Caribbean Heritage

🎨 art & design by Patrick Rasoanaivo Patrick Rasoanaivo

thingstodoinbrooklyn

Before her passing two years ago, the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival was able to sit down with one of the most for...
04/07/2026

Before her passing two years ago, the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival was able to sit down with one of the most formidable literary minds the Caribbean has ever produced. Today, we publish that conversation for the first time.

In the interview, Maryse Condé, novelist, historian, and uncompromising voice of the African diaspora, speaks on Creole identity and French assimilation, her journeys through Africa, the enduring weight of Fanon, and what it means to write truthfully about the people history has tried to silence.

We are honored to share a foreword from the ground breaking author who lent her name to our festival prize, Elizabeth Nunez, who knew Maryse not only as a reader and admirer, but as a guest at her table, in New York and in Guadeloupe.

Maryse Condé passed away in April 2024. This interview is in her memory, and in gratitude for everything she gave to Caribbean literature and to all of us who came after.

This interview was edited by amilcar sanatan,

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