BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest
The BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest is an annual writing competition geared towards unearthing and encouraging the distinctive voice and story of the Caribbean-descended writer and expanding the creative writing landscape of Caribbean literature. The BCLF awards two prizes in the name of multiple-award winning writing luminary and distinguished professor, Dr. Elizabeth Nunez.
Our 2025 Short Fiction Story Contest is OPEN
BCLF Cocoapod Podcast
BCLF Cocoa Pod is a Caribbean storytelling experience in which writers of Caribbean heritage narrate their own stories. Each story is a seed, a nugget of an original work of fiction, rich with the rhythm, pitch and intonation of the one who wrote it. It is Caribbean storytelling told in the best way possible - in the voice of the place(s) that inspired it, imbued with the magic and accents of the region. BCLF Cocoa Pod is an original production of the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF).
The Caribbean Fiction Collection
The Caribbean Fiction Collection is a meticulously-researched joint project of the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) and The Center for Fiction within its membership library.
This collection is an important milestone in the ongoing shared commitment between the BCLF and The Center for Fiction to celebrate and promote the art of fiction with a specific spotlight on the incredible contributions of Caribbean authors to the literary community at large.
Support Caribbean Writers Tour
An itinerant showcase which decentralises where and how stories and Caribbean literature are told.
If you cannot make your way to the story, the story will make its way to you.
Welcome to the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival
At the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF), we believe that the Caribbean story lives everywhere — in the rhythm of our music, the art in our masquerade and play, the bass of the dub poet, the spice in our kitchens, the fire of spoken word, and even the quiet, candid moments of everyday life. Rooted in Brooklyn but inspired by the Caribbean and its far-reaching diaspora, BCLF is more than a literary event — it’s an immersive, interdisciplinary celebration of Caribbean identity and storytelling in all its forms.
Aptly based in Little Caribbean, Brooklyn — the gateway to the diaspora and home to the largest concentration of Caribbean people outside the region — BCLF is a living, breathing affirmation of the Caribbean’s enduring spirit and relevance. Culture is umbilical: it nourishes across distances, tethering generations to a shared origin. The narratives we tell are cells carrying the genetic material that binds the Caribbean and her offspring children together, ensuring the spirit of the region lives on, evolves, and thrives.
Whether around the fireside of our kitchens, or huddled at the bus stop in the gloaming light of a winter's evening,
we keep the ancestral flame alive — storytelling as survival, as celebration, as home.
Our programming is intentionally fluid and unorthodox, reflecting the organic way in which Caribbean culture weaves through life itself. By blending literature with music, visual art, food culture, and oral traditions, we challenge conventional boundaries and offer a vibrant, accessible platform where Caribbean narratives are not only told — they're felt. This approach stems from a deep commitment to democratizing the Caribbean story, especially for the generations born in the diaspora who yearn for connection, context, and authenticity.
At BCLF, we find the story in everything — and in doing so, we make space for everyone to find themselves in the story.
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