“What we think of as unimaginable is simply real life for others, both far away and on our very doorstep,” says Karen Lord.
The Barbadian author, whose latest novel The Blue, Beautiful World was recently longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, will be part of a special lineup of events at the 2024 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, focused on speculative fiction and fantasy (SFF).
Dubbed Fantastic Friday – running all day on April 26 – the series explores how contemporary authors use these genres set in other worlds and other times to tackle burning issues of the here and now.
Other authors in the lineup include Grenada-born Tobias S Buckell, Caribbean-Canadian Premee Mohamed, Jamaican-Canadian Zalika Reid-Benta, and Nigerian-British Irenosen Okojie, founder of the Black to the Future festival in the UK.
“SFF teaches us to imagine the best and the worst, worlds changed beyond recognition,” says Lord, who will return to the NGC Bocas Lit Fest for the first time since 2019. “We must train our imaginations!”
She will appear alongside Mohamed in a 10.30 am session in the Old Fire Station, where both will read from and discuss their books.
Other Fantastic Friday events include writing workshops – one of which is aimed specifically at secondary-school students – an open mic for SFF authors of all levels, and a New Talent Showcase event featuring four up-and-coming TT authors in the fantasy genre: Dixie-Ann Belle, Jolanda Charles, Janine Mendes-Franco and Vindhar Suraj.
For SFF fans, Fantastic Friday is a chance to hear from and meet some of the most exciting writers in the genre at work today, with books available for sale and authors doing book signings after each event.
And for the writers themselves, it’s a chance to meet their peers, share ideas, and glean inspiration for the future.
“It’s thrilling to encounter so many award-winning authors in one space,” says Lord. “The conversations I have at Bocas with friends and colleagues are the best.”
[caption id="attachment_1076940" align="alignnone" width="666"] Dixie-Ann Belle -[/caption]
Fantastic Friday is just one component of the four-day 2024 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, which includes dozens more writers of all genres and a packed programme of readings, performances, workshops and more. Almost all events are free and open to all. The National Library and Old Fire Station will once more be the festival headquarters, with evening events at other venues across Port of Spain.
Fantastic Friday schedule
All events take place at the National Library and Old Fire Station in downtown Port of Spain
Workshop:
Sci-Fi 101, with Tobias Buckell
A special interactive writing workshop for teens! Are you a sci-fi lover? A secret or not so secret writer of fan fiction? And ready to take your writing to the next level? The New York Times-bestselling author of A Stranger in the Citadel offers practical tips and exercises to help you expand your writing imagination
10 am-12 pm, 1st Floor Seminar Room
Requires registration via schools: e-mail chinyere@bocaslitfest.com
