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Two local poets will be heading to London in September having been short-listed to receive major international literary awards by the Forward Prizes for Poetry.
They are Vahni Capildeo, a Trinidadian poet based in the UK and Shivanee Ramlochan who lives in Trinidad.
Capildeo is a previous winner of a Forward Prize in 2016 and has now achieved the rare feat of being short-listed again for the award just two years later with her book, Venus as a Bear.
Ramlochan, whose début book of poems, Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting, has been short-listed for the 2018 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection. In a statement from the Bocas Lit Fest, Ramlochan was commended for being the first Trinidadian writer living at home who has been short-listed for the award.
Considered among the most prestigious international awards for poetry, the Forward Prizes have been awarded since 1992. In recent years, an unprecedented number of poets of Caribbean birth have been short-listed or named winners.
Both Capildeo and Ramlochan launched their respective books at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest along with 2018 writer, the Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar.
In a statement, Bocas festival director Marina Salandy-Brown said, “This is exciting news. If we ever needed more proof that our literature is in excellent health and deserves celebrating, this is it. Many congratulations to Vahni and Shivanee, and also to Kaveh Akbar, all of whom delighted us at last month’s NGC Bocas Lit Fest.”
The winners of the 2018 Forward Prizes will be announced on September 18, at a ceremony in London.