Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Elizabeth Nunez Awards 2021 longlists announced.

The longlists for the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s Elizabeth Nunez Awards 2021 were announced on August 9 and August 14, 2021.

The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF), founded in 2019, is a celebration of culture as expressed through the pen of the storyteller and the voice of the poet. It is designed to facilitate vibrant conversations about Caribbean identity via a series of readings of classic and contemporary stories, podcasts, and conversations.

One of the festivals most popular features are the writing competitions geared towards unearthing and encouraging the distinctive voice and story of the Caribbean-descended writer and expanding the creative writing landscape of Caribbean literature. The two are the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize and BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean.

BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize

BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize is a prize exclusively for emergent writers in the Caribbean diaspora in North America. In its inaugural year of 2019, the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize was awarded to the Puerto-Rican (Nuyorican) writer, Amina Susi-Ali.

The longlist announced on August 9 featured the following 22 stories;

• Sentiments of Change, Arti Deonarine (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Atiya Firewood, Lisa J Latouche (Dominica)
• Imperial Loss, Fragments of, Jenny Ortiz (Puerto Rico)
• Omar’s Hayti, Jasmine St Laurent (Haiti)
• Beautiful Village With Amazing Strangers, Anselma Aimable (St Lucia)
• Bitter Tea, Irvin J Hunt (Jamaica)
• Nkae (Remembrance), Jodi-Ann Morris (Jamaica)
• Daughter 4, Patrice Grell Yursil (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Worship, Danielle Richardson (Sint Maarten, Saint Martin)
• Where The Hummingbirds Never Land, Natasha Persaud (Guyana)
• Guava, Kaiomi Inniss (Trinidad and Tobago/Barbados)
• End of the Road, Lorraine Brown (Trinidad and Tobago)
• The KKK Welcome Wagon, April Heath pen name Mackenzie Littledale (Trinidad and Tobago/Barbados/St Vincent & The Grenadines)
• High Spirits, Camille Gomera-Tavarez (Dominican Republic)
• Mail, Folayan Xui (Trinidad and Tobago)
• A New Beginning, Krystal M. Ramroop (Guyana)
• The Moon and The Sun, Amaris Castillo (Dominican Republic)
• Coconuts in Concrete Jungles, Samantha Althea Inniss (Barbados)
• Sativa, Rachelle J Gray (Barbados)
• Valley Road Blues, Bernardette (Bunsie) Baptist (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Christ-Like, Leo D. Martinez (Dominican Republic)
• I Want To Tell You But…, Gayle Pilgrim (Barbados)

BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean

For 2021, a second award in the short story contest announced the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean, which is open exclusively to Caribbean writers of all levels who reside and work in the Caribbean. Those who made the longlist for the year, announced on August 14, were;

• Lena’s Place, Ayanna Lee (Granada)
• The Rocks Cried Out, Roland Watson-Grant (Jamaica)
• Roots, Rajiv Ramkhalawan (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Freedom Cup – The Games Are Coming, Joanne C Hillhouse (Antigua & Barbuda)
• Rhythm Freedom, Danijah Taylor (Jamaica)
• Jesstina, Shanette Monrose (St. Lucia)
• Between Conquerors And Saviors, Madyanis Santiago Diaz (Puerto Rico)
• Maljo, Glenda-Rose Layne (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Barrel Reach, Yakima Cuffy (Jamaica)
• Singing With The Orphans, Diana McCaulay (Jamaica)
• The Rain, Roy Sanford (Dominica)
• Rituals, Delroy N. Williams (Dominica)
• Temple Boy, Ashiana Narinesingh (Trinidad and Tobago)
• The Wailers, Akhim Alexis (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Hand-Me-Down Learning, Heather Barker (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Rum Shelf, Brandon Mc Ivor (Trinidad and Tobago)
• The Mark, Lafleur Cockburn (St Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Love, Like a Bombay Mango, Fabian M Thomas (Jamaica)
• Julie, J. Tracy Farrag (Trinidad and Tobago)
• The Meeting in The Forest, Vindhar Suraj (Trinidad and Tobago)
• La Diablesse, Marc-Andrew Elie (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Don’t Forget Wai’tukubuli, Jashuan Williams (Dominica)
• Sou’s Hand, Janielle Browne  (St Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Magic On Seymour Street, Jarryl Bryan (Guyana)
• Terms And Conditions, Rasheen Roper Robinson (Jamaica)
• Jewels For Me, Tyishia Williams Bellot (Dominica)
• For Whom The Douen Crows’, Kwasi Tarik Ibn Mohammed Shade (Trinidad and Tobago)

The shortlists and winners of the award will be announced at a later date.