The longlist for the newly initiated OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean literature was announced early this morning.  The books cover three categories and represent six countries.

Poetry
Elegguas, by Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados) — Wesleyan
A Light Song of Light, by Kei Miller (Jamaica) — Carcanet
White Egrets, by Derek Walcott (St. Lucia) — Faber

Fiction
The Loneliness of Angels, by Myriam Chancy (Haiti/USA) — Peepal Tree
Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord (Barbados) — Small Beer
The Amazing Absorbing Boy, by Rabindranath Maharaj (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — Knopf Canada
How to Escape a Leper Colony, by Tiphanie Yanique (US Virgin Islands) — Graywolf

Non-fiction
Beauty and Sadness, by Andre Alexis (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — House of Anansi
Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti/USA) — Princeton
The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief, by V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago/UK) — Picador

The 2011 shortlist will be announced on 28 March and the winner of the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature will be announced on 30 April, 2011, at the first annual Bocas Lit Fest. The prize includes an award of US$10,000, sponsored by One Caribbean Media.

For more information, visit the Bocas Lit Fest site.