The Bocas Library

#bocas2025 #alwayscominghome

A decade of festivals, lively discussions, debates and controversial conversations, articles and stories have made for a rich and diverse treasure trove of archives featuring beloved Caribbean authors.

Podcast

Video

Authors

Big Ideas

Seminars

100 Caribbean Books That Made Us

Format: Video

First Recorded: April 2021

Featuring: Aaron Kamugisha, Ardene Sirjoo, Johnny Temple, Olive Senior

3×3: Poetry reading from the 2011 NGC Bocas Lit Fest

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 2011 Festival

Featuring: Georgia Popplewell

5,000 copies and counting: the story of Brown Sugar & Spice with Betty Peter

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: April 2017

Featuring: Betty Peter

A Walk Back in Time – Snapshots of the History of T&T

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 11 November 2015

Featuring: Angelo Bissessaringh, Brinsley Samaroo, Geoffrey Maclean, Judy Raymond

An Island State of Mind

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 27th April, 2018

Featuring: Jacob Ross, Tracy Assing

Anthony Wall: A life in film

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 4 May 2019

Featuring: Anthony Wall, Lucy Hannah, Nicholas Laughlin

Are writers born or made?

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: April 2019

Featuring: Muli Amaye

Back to the Future: Speculative Fiction from the Caribbean

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 18 September, 2020

Featuring: Karen Lord, Malka Older, Nalo Hopkinson, Tobias S. Buckell

Barbara Lalla: A Conversation

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 28 April 2018

Featuring: Barbara Lalla, Nicholas Laughlin, Shivanee Ramlochan

Big Ideas: The Way Ahead

Format: Video

First Recorded: May 2021

Featuring: Anthony N. Sabga III, Dr. Justin Ram, Jeanelle Clarke, Mareeka Dookie, Natalee Legore, Omari Joseph, Professor John Agard

Black Indians: War Chants

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 20 April 2016

Featuring: Anderson Patrick, Darlington Henry, Maria Nunes

Capitalism & Slavery at 75

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 3rd May, 2019

Featuring: Caryl Phillips, Gabrielle Hosein, Heather Cateau, Selwun Cudjoe

Celebrating the legacy of Kamau Brathwaite

Format: Video

First Recorded: 11 May 2020

Featuring: Aaron Kamugisha, Andre Bagoo, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, John Robert Lee, Kelly Baker Josephs, Loretta Collins Klobah, Malika Booker, Rajiv Mohabir, Roger Robinson, Safiya Sinclair, Tanya Shirley, Vahni Capildeo, Vladimir Lucien

Cereus Blooms at Night at 25: Shani Mootoo

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 23 April 2021

Featuring: Andre Bagoo, Nadja Nabbie, Shani Mootoo, Shivanee Ramlochan, Stephanie Ramlogan

Colin Robinson: The Launch of “You Have You Father Hard Head”

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 1 May 2016

Featuring: Anton Nimblett, Colin Robinson, Jeremy Poynting, Nicholas Laughlin

Crystal Skeete: “Maxi Man Tracking School Gyal”

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2013

Featuring: Crystal Skeete

Dionne Brand: A Life in Literature

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 29 April 2016

Featuring: Dionne Brand, Shivanee Ramlochan

Don’t Sell Yourself Short: Marketing & Promotion for Authors with Marina Salandy Brown

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 2016

Featuring: Marina Salandy-Brown

Earl Lovelace: One on One

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 3 May 2019

Featuring: Earl Lovelace, Funso Aiyejina

Earl Lovelace: Reading from “Is Just a Movie”

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 2012

Featuring: Earl Lovelace

Edward Baugh: Black Sand

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 1 May 2015

Featuring: Edward Baugh, Marjorie Thorpe, Nicholas Laughlin

Edward Baugh: Devotion to Poetry

Format: Video

First Recorded: 29 April 2017

Featuring: Edward Baugh, Ishion Hutchinson

Erna Brodber: A Life of Creative Work

Format: Video

First Recorded: 26 April 2018

Featuring: Erna Brodber, Evelyn O’Callaghan

EWWC Debate: A National Literature?

Format: Video

First Recorded: 27 April 2013

Featuring: David Codling, Hannah Lowe, Ivrine Welsh, Marina Warner, Marlon James, Vahni Capildeo

EWWC Debate: Should Literature Be Political?

Format: Video

First Recorded: 28 April 2013

Featuring: Courttia Newland, David Codling, Earl Lovelace, Ifeona Fulani, Olive Senior, Pankaj Mishra

Family Matters: Fiction by Caroline Mackenzie & Ingrid Persaud

Format: Video

First Recorded: Sunday 20 September, 2020

Featuring: Caroline Mackenzie, Ingrid Persaud, Ira Mathur, Nicholas Laughlin

Family ties: Wandeka Gayle & Alecia McKenzie

Format: Video

First Recorded: Sunday 25 April 2021

Featuring: Alecia McKenzie, Sharon Leach, Wandeka Gayle

How the publishing business really works with Malaika Adero

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: April 2017

Featuring: Malaika Adero

Human Rights: An Equal Place?

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2 May 2019

Featuring: Andy Johnson, Attillah Springer, Colin Robinson, Mariano Browne, Sofia Chote

Imaginary Homelands: Barbara Lalla & Leone Ross

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2021

Featuring: Barbara Lalla, Karen Lord, Leone Ross

In a cold country: Andre Alexis & Kaie Kellough

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2021

Featuring: Andre Alexis, Anton Nimblett, Kaie Kellough

Is the Calypso Dream Dead?

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: Sat 28 April 2016

Featuring: Gordon Rohlehr, Kenny Phillips, Kizzy Ruiz, Kurt Allen, Sunity Maharaj

Lit’s Be Real: Building A Lit Community Across Borders

Format: Video

First Recorded: 4 November 2020

Featuring: Amanda Choo Quan, Chiwan Chois, Shivanee Ramlochan

Lit’s Be Real: I’m Not International – You Are!

Format: Video

First Recorded: 16 December 2020

Featuring: Amanda Choo Quan, Daria-Ann Martineau, Eloisa Amezcua, Lissette Mendez

Lit’s Be Real: MFA or Another Way?

Format: Video

First Recorded: 18 November 2020

Featuring: Amanda Choo Quan, Ayanna Gillian Lloyd, Jean McNeil, Tanya Shirley

Lit’s Be Real: Pitching & Submitting

Format: Video

First Recorded: 9 December 2020

Featuring: Allison Noelle Conner, Amanda Choo Quan, Xavier Navarro Aquino

Love is war: Fiction by Lisa Allen-Agostini & Cherie Jones

Format: Video

First Recorded: Sunday 25 April 2021

Featuring: Cherie Jones, Lisa Allen-Agostini, Sharma Taylor

Making history: Lawrence Scott & Lauren Francis-Sharma

Format: Video

First Recorded: Saturday 24 April 2021

Featuring: Ayanna Gillian Lloyd, Lauren Francis-Sharma, Lawrence Scott

Marlon James & Nalo Hopkinson: A Conversation

Format: Video

First Recorded: 4 May 2019

Featuring: Karen Lord, Marlon James, Nalo Hopkinson

Mervyn Morris: Poetry and a Conversation

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 29 April 2012

Featuring: Kei Miller, Mervyn Morris, Nicholas Laughlin

Olive Senior: Dying To Better Themselves

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 30 April 2015

Featuring: Bridget Brereton, Nicholas Laughlin, Olive Senior

One & One with Godfrey Smith

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2017

Featuring: Barbara Lalla, Godfrey Smith

One from Ten Leaves Who?

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 4 May 2019

Featuring: Adrian Saunders, Dr. Schuyler Esprit, Ian Randle, Paula Gopee-Scoon, Philip Nanton

One on One with David Chariandy

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 27th April, 2018

Featuring: David Chariandy, Kelly Josephs

One on One with Marlon James

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 1 May 2016

Featuring: Marina Salandy-Brown, Marlon James, Nicholas Laughlin

Placing the “Caribbean” in Caribbean Writing

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2021

Featuring: Alison Donnell, Ronald Cummings, Tanya Batson-Savage, Vahni Capildeo

Poetry of Kendel Hippolyte & Canisia Lubrin

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2019

Featuring: Amilcar Sanatan, Canisia Lubrin, Kendel Hippolyte

Raised Voices: Rosamond S. King & Desiree C. Bailey

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2021

Featuring: Daria-Ann Martineau, Desiree C. Bailey, Rosamond S. King

Readings by Rahul Bhattacharya and Chika Unigwe

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 29 April 2012

Featuring: Anita Sethi, Chika Unigwe, Rahul Bhattacharya

Secrets of A Creative Mind with Susan Greenfield

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 30 April 2015

Featuring: Marina Salandy-Brown, Mark Raymond, Susan Greenfield

Shake it up

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 23 April 2021

Featuring: Philip Nanton, Ruth Osman

The First People’s Legacy

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 11 November 2015

Featuring: Basil Reid, Nicholas Laughlin, Sat Balkaransingh, Sunity Maharaj, Tracy Assing

The Five Most Important Things You Don’t Know About Publishing

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 29 April 2019

Featuring: Ian Randle

The Naipaul Inheritance

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 3rd May, 2019

Featuring: Anton Nimblett, Kenneth Ramchande, Vijay Maharaj

The Personal Is Always Political

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2020

Featuring: Andre Bagoo, Katherine Agyemaa Agard, Tessa McWatt

Toussaint was a mighty man

Format: Video

First Recorded: 2021

Featuring: Amilcar Sanantan, Marlene Daut, Sudhir Hazareesingh

Translating the Past

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 1 May 2015

Featuring: Barbara Lalla, Nicholas Laughlin, Patience Agbabi

What an editor does and why it matters, with Jeremy Poynting

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 2016

Featuring: Jeremy Poynting

What Every Fiction Publisher Is Looking For

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 29 April 2019

Featuring: Jacob Ross, Nicholas Laughlin

When Writers Become Politicians

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 29 April 2016

Featuring: Barbara Lalla, Gemma Robinson, J. Michael Dash, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert

Why a Free Press Matters

Format: Video

First Recorded: Friday 28th April 2017

Featuring: Andy Johnson, Asha Javeed, Mark Wilson, Peter Kimani, Wesley Gibbings

Why Fairy Tales Still Matter

Format: Podcast

First Recorded: 5 May 2019

Featuring: Alexia Arthurs, Andre Bagoo, James Aboud, Marina Warner, Nicholas Laughlin, Vashti Bowlah