Charmaine "Nailah Folami Imoja" Gill 2024 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

2024 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Charmaine “Nailah Folami Imoja” Gill.  Video Copyright © 2024 by the Central Bank of Barbados.
 
 

Frank Collymore Awards Celebrate Literary Excellence, Cultural Identity (Adapted from barbadostoday.bb.)

IN A VIBRANT celebration of Barbadian letters, the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment (FCLE) showcased the island’s rich literary talent at its 27th awards ceremony.

An Excerpt from Jamaica's Exam

 

WHEN I GROW UP.... 

I want to be a surgeon or a barrister or an architect. Failing that, I’ll settle for being a journalist or at the very least the Queen of England or somewhere on the continent. So what if I’m black? When I grow up, I’m going to marry a prince. 

And during my reign 

1. My word will be law. Although I’m learning that I can only be a law unto myself. 

An Excerpt from The Rainbow Window

 

I

Place and People, 1945

THE ISLAND RESTS like a gigantic prehistoric fish, tail fin stretching into the tempestuous waves of the Atlantic, head resting in the calm waters of the Caribbean Sea. On the hill at the cliff edge, where the eye of the fish protrudes, stands an ancient edifice.

Christine Barrow 2023 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

2023 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Christine Barrow. Photo Copyright © 2024 by Christine Barrow.


Christine Barrow adjudged Best Entrant at the 26th FCLE Awards (Adapted from barbadostoday.bb) 

CHRISTINE BARROW was the top entrant in the 26th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment competition for her prose fiction work Rainbow Window. She was awarded the $7500 second prize, however, as the judges declined to award a first place.

An Excerpt from The House that Disappeared

 

Chapter Fifteen

The doorbell rang at seven, making him jump. He and Rambo went to the door. Ms Jones stood on the doorstep under the light of the portico. She had cut her hair. It was frizzed out in wild curls. Slightly more black than usual. Mr Smith stared open-mouthed at her. She was the epitome of gorgeousness.

Peter Laurie 2022 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

2022 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Peter Laurie. Photo Copyright © 2023 by Peter Laurie.


Adapted from centralbank.org.bb. Peter Laurie Took Home the $10,000 First Prize at the 25th FCLE Awards

An Excerpt from The Fall of Autumn Leaves

 

Chapter Seven
 
Cameron leaned back, reading the last sentence.  He smiled and then immediately frowned.  Looking around the apartment with its four rickety chairs and Formica-covered table, he wondered where all that effort expended in becoming a success had gone.  He had grasped the brass ring, and in America, had clambered up the greasy pole.  All he had needed was a wide pair of shoulders on which to stand.  He had found two. That thought brought his mind around to his cousin Fran. 

Ronald A. Williams 2021 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

2021 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Ronald A. Williams.  Photo Copyright © 2022 by Ronald A. Williams.
 
 
Reprinted from centralbank.org.bb. Ronald Williams is the Top Entrant in the 24th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Competition > Central Bank of Barbados > News
 
RONALD A. WILLIAMS emerged as the top entrant in the 24th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment (FCLE) Competition. This was announced during a scaled-down in-person awards ceremony at Frank Collymore Hall.

Latest Winning Words Focuses on "Our Uncertain Times"

....Like the world, and its words, are on fire.  This edition's cover is again by Kai Miller.     

 

The following is from the back cover of The ArtsEtc NIFCA Winning Words Anthology 2019/2020.

THESE ARE NOT normal times we’re in.  And they are changing fast.

Linda M. Deane 2020 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

2020 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Linda M. Deane.  Photo Copyright © 2021.

 

THE 23rd FRANK COLLYMORE LITERARY AWARDS were presented entirely virtually for the first time on February 14, 2021. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the ceremony was aired via a live stream that used prerecorded readings by the winners in various locations across the island.  

All of the winners were poets this year, with the Prime Minister’s Award going to a prose writer for a YA novel.  

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