We are thrilled that THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey has been longlisted for the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. According to the judges, THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is ‘a unique Caribbean fable that takes the familiar story of a mermaid abruptly thrust onshore and brings it to a new place,’ and ‘reads like the work of a novelist in command of her material and focused on using a mythic “then” to speak to now.’ Also included in the fiction category are These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card and Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud.
The OCM Bocas Prize recognises authors of Caribbean birth or citizenship in three categories: poetry, fiction and literary non-fiction. The $10,000 Prize is considered the leading literary award for Caribbean writers. Past winners include Richard Georges, Kevin Adonis Browne, Jennifer Rahim, Kei Miller and Olive Senior. Monique Roffey’s earlier work ARCHIPELAGO was awarded the Prize in 2013.
The winners in the three genre categories will be announced on 28th March, and the overall winner will be announced on Saturday 24th April, during the annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest.
THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH was published to wide acclaim by Peepal Tree Press in the UK and by W F Howes in audio. It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and was named Costa Book of the Year 2020. It is on the shortlist for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021, and Peepal Tree Press and THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH have also been longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses 2021. Translation rights have been sold in Germany, Holland, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Turkey and Russia, with offering in other markets and for film under way.
A vivid, moving story of love and trust, family and friendship in a Caribbean island community, THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is a world brought to unforgettable life by a master storyteller. A fisherman sings to himself in his boat, but attracts an unexpected sea-dweller — Aycayia, a beautiful young woman cursed to live as a mermaid, swimming the ocean for centuries. Theirs becomes a calm, unspoken bond. But when she hears David’s engine again one day and follows the vessel, she finds herself in a fierce battle for her life. Caught by American sports fishermen, she is strung up on the dock as a trophy, but David rescues her, and gently wins her trust as she starts to transform, painfully, back into a woman. But jealous eyes are watching them…
Interwoven with David and Aycayia’s love story is that of Miss Arcadia Rain, a white landowner bringing up her deaf son on a dwindling estate. As her young son connects with fellow outsider Aycayia, an old lover of Arcadia’s returns to the island and she too begins to feel her way into love and trust again.
See more about THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH on the Peepal Tree Press site and read an interview with Monique Roffey here.
Praise for THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH
‘Monique Roffey is a unique talent and most daring and versatile of writers.’ — Bernardine Evaristo
‘THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH arrives bearing tragedy and beauty. Monique Roffey has created a new myth for an age of ruined oceans. She continues to be one of our most exciting new Caribbean voices.’ — A.L. Kennedy
‘Monique Roffey is a writer of verve, vibrancy and compassion, and her work is always a joy to read.’ — Sarah Hall
THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is wonderfully written, with both soul and intense drama – it glistens almost, like the mermaid! I love its all-round charisma and also its great compassion for both humanity and the natural world.’ — Diana Evans
‘THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is like a lost myth, found, and made fresh again for our times.’ — Tessa McWatt, author of Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging
Photo: Marcus Bastel
About Monique Roffey
Monique Roffey is an award-winning novelist. House of Ashes (Scribner UK) was shortlisted for the Costa and the BOCAS Prize. Archipelago, winner of the OCM BOCAS prize for Caribbean Literature, was published by Scribner in the UK, Viking in the US, and translated into 5 languages. Her second novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Prize, among other accolades, and film/TV rights have been optioned.
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