Author honoured with Caribbean literature prize

4 hours ago

Neve Gordon-Farleigh

News image — Tessa McWatt wrote about the grief of losing her mother to dementia as part of her memoir, The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief

Cameron Noble/BBC Tessa McWatt standing outside The Forum in Norwich in front of a church which is out of focus. She is looking directly at the camera and is smiling. She has short brown hair. — Tessa McWatt wrote about the grief of losing her mother to dementia as part of her memoir, The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief

An author from Guyana said she was "honoured" to win the highest prize in Caribbean literature for her memoir which explores losing her mother to dementia.

Tessa McWatt, a professor in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, was awarded the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in a ceremony held in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

The prize is widely regarded as the leading international award for Caribbean writing.

She said the recognition was a "real joy, as it feels like a win for my mother, who is the central figure in the book and my heart's inspiration".

The memoir reflects on her mother's experience with dementia and examines collective grief following the environmental destruction caused by global pandemic, war and climate change.

"The journey is the grief of my mother with dementia and us losing her and her having to move out of her home," she said, speaking to BBC Look East presenter Susie Fowler-Watt.

"In the background is climate grief and I lost a friend in that period and another friend was diagnosed with stage four cancer, so it's all of that grief at once.

"I was looking at a way to embrace it."

'The award was for my mother'

The story - The Snag: A Mother, A Forest, and Wild Grief - spans a period of two months.

"A snag is a dead or dying tree in the forest and although it might look like its lost it's importance, it is the most important tree in the forest.

"You shouldn't take a snag out of the woods it should be allowed to decay there.

"It became a metaphor for my mum and richness of the elderly and the richness of watching someone go through dementia. I was learning some amazing things from her."

Receiving the award in Trinidad was pertinent for McWatt, whose mother went there every year.

"It felt like going home and to give that honour to her there, it was really lovely. It was an award for her," she explained.

"My advice to other writers is always the same — write your truth, don't stop."

Do you have a story suggestion for Norfolk? Contact us below.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.