Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

The winner of the first annual Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry will win a week-long residency at Walcott’s home in St. Lucia or Trinidad, a US$1,000 cash award, a reading at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in Boston and the publication of a limited-edition broadside by Arrowsmith Press.  The prize is being offered by the Derek Walcott Festival in Port-of Spain in collaboration with Arrowsmith Press and the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.

The prize will be awarded to a full-length book of poems by a living poet who is not a US citizen (green card holders welcome) published in the previous calendar year.  The book may be in English or in translation and may have been published anywhere in the world. In the case of translations, the prize is shared by the poet and the translator.

Co-executor of the Walcott Estate, Anna Walcott-Hardy said this prize is a great opportunity, not just financially, but in terms of the awards offered. “My sister, Elizabeth and I are truly honoured and excited about the Prize, which will give poets worldwide an opportunity to have their work published and showcased. Both of my parents always believed in supporting artists, because my father especially always got assistance,  he said, when he was coming through the ranks. There were always people staying in our house,  whether it was people who didn’t have anywhere to stay or going through a hard time here in Trinidad, St. Lucia, Boston, we had a house that people could come and stay in and have a meal. Then when he started to get prizes, he really believed in the help that a prize would give a writer to have that quiet time to reflect and write and do the draft, so that they wouldn’t have to straddle a few jobs, because he was working at the Guardian and then he decided he wanted to write full time and my mother basically took over a lot of the expenses at that time, and he’s always told us about that.”

She said writers would appreciate the week-long stay at Walcott’s homes, either in Trinidad or St. Lucia. “In Trinidad, we’re in the Santa Cruz Valley, which my father loved, close to Paramin, so they can see places that inspired him. He wrote a lot of White Egrets in our garden, on the verandah overlooking the garden where the egrets would come and that inspired him, and a lot of his work was written in Petit Valley, or they can go to St. Lucia and stay in the house there and have that opportunity to learn more about St. Lucia and learn more about the process and what he saw and what inspired him, but also a chance for them to be quiet and write and develop their work.”

Another aspect of the prize is the opportunity for the writers to do a reading at the Boston Playwrights Theatre, which was founded by Walcott in 1981 and is an award-winning professional theatre dedicated to new works. “The writer, whoever is selected, gets to give a reading here, and also they get to talk to other writers, because it can be isolating as a poet when you’re writing in a certain situation, so it’s always good, I think, to meet with other poets, other writers and chat and share stories and laugh and lime and relax.”

The selected poet will also have the chance to get a limited-edition book published by Arrowsmith Press. Walcott-Hardy thanked artistic director of the Boston Playwrights Theatre Kate Snodgrass and Askold Melnyczuk of Arrowsmith Press, both old friends of the family, for their assistance in putting together the Prize. Publishers are invited to enter books published between January 1 and December 31 2019.  Submissions must be received by February 15, 2020.  There is a US$20 submission fee.  Two hard copies of the book should be mailed to Arrowsmith Press, 11 Chestnut Street, Medford, MA 02155. The winner will be announced in May, and a reading will be scheduled for October 2020.  Further information on submitting can be found at the Derek Walcott website.