The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) has advanced two Dominican creative voices to the final shortlist stage of its prestigious annual short fiction prizes, shining a spotlight on emerging and established storytelling talent from across the Caribbean and its diaspora.
Dominican writer and documentary filmmaker Zephryn Royer earned a spot on the 2026 shortlist for the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean, recognized for her evocative short story *River Mouth*. In a separate category, fellow Dominican Kwame Labassiere was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writer’s Prize for his work *What Cannot Be Done Alone*.
Per an official statement from Royer’s team, the shortlist was made public via BCLF’s official Instagram account on Sunday, August 16, 2026. The awards, part of the festival’s annual Short Fiction Contest, were created to honor the legacy of Dr. Elizabeth Nunez, a celebrated Trinidadian-American novelist and Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College, City University of New York, who spent decades advocating for underrepresented Caribbean and African-American writers.
The regional Elizabeth Nunez Award is open exclusively to creators who were born, raised, or hold citizenship in a Caribbean nation and currently live and work within the region. Entrants submit original short stories capped at 3,000 words, which are evaluated anonymously by a panel of established Caribbean authors.
Founded in 2019, BCLF holds the unique distinction of being the only literary festival based in the United States focused entirely on elevating Caribbean literature. Its dual Elizabeth Nunez prizes are designed to recognize exceptional literary talent both based in the Caribbean and among the Caribbean diaspora community in North America. The longlist for this year’s contest was first revealed on August 4 by judges Kevin Jared Hosein and Carol Mitchell, featuring submissions from creators across a wide range of Caribbean territories including Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Hosein, an acclaimed Caribbean author himself, praised the 13-story longlist as a bold collection of work defined by creative risk-taking and singular, unforgettable narrative voices. He emphasized the central role of character-driven storytelling in short fiction, noting that “a memorable character is the best vehicle to carry the reader.”
For Royer, who currently resides in Martinique, the shortlist recognition carries deeply personal meaning, as it offers her the opportunity to represent Dominica, the island that shaped her artistic identity and inspires all her creative work. “I am absolutely honoured to be a part of the BCLF short fiction contest shortlist. I am even more thrilled to be able to not only represent Dominica but to also pay homage to the place that shaped who I am as a writer and that breathes life into all my stories,” Royer shared in a statement.
Royer already boasts an established career in nonfiction storytelling, with her documentary work earning recognition and support from leading industry programs including IF/Then, HotDocs Cross Currents, the Caribbean Film Academy, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and the European Film Market. In fiction, this is not her first major accolade: her stories have twice been longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, with *Alé-Viré* selected in 2024 and *Witness* earlier this year. *River Mouth* marks Royer’s first honor from BCLF.
She holds an Associate’s degree in Modern French Literature and a PhD in Bilingual Education from the Université des Antilles. The winners of both BCLF Elizabeth Nunez awards will be announced during the 2026 Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival, set to run from September 9 to 13 in Brooklyn, New York. This year’s gathering will explore the theme “One Hand Don’t Clap: Caribbean Worlds, Writing Towards the Future.”