Caribbean Books

Books from the Caribbean

Papillote Press is a small, independent publishing house specialising in books about Dominica and the wider Caribbean.

“Papillote Press is committed to telling our stories in books that are made to be treasured.” Marina Salandy-Brown, founder and director of the Bocas Lit Fest

“Papillote Press has been etching out a space for themselves as an outlet for burgeoning talent.” Richard Georges, poet, winner of the Bocas Lit Fest award for Caribbean literature, 2020

Updates

Elma Napier Remembered

It is 50 years this month since the death of Elma Napier, writer, pioneering environmentalist, and the first woman to sit in a West Indian House of Assembly.

And Still They Stand

Blog Post about two reviews of Papillote Press’ Still Standing: the Ti Kais of Dominica by Adom Philogene Heron, with photographs by Marica Honychurch.

Cover of children's picture book, Good Night My Sweet Island

FEATURED BOOK

Good Night My Sweet Island

By Petrea Honychurch Seaman
Illustrations by Susanne Heitz

ISBN: 9781838041595
Original paperback
Price: £7.99
Publication: September 2023

Saying good night “to all things we love”: in a homage to a magical Caribbean island, Good Night My Sweet Island takes the reader through a poetic and visually stimulating journey. Each verse celebrates aspects of tropical island life: birds and beaches, fruits and forests, dancing and music, rivers and rain. As the sun goes down, a child says a dreamy good night to all the rich experiences of the day.

“A beautifully illustrated poetic depiction of an island I love with all my heart.” – Trish Cooke, author of So Much and Look Back!

“A feast for the ears and eyes. Beautiful.”
– Margaret Bateson-Hill, author of Masha and the Firebird

The rhythms, sights and sounds of the Caribbean are beautifully captured. A real joy.” – Valerie Bloom, Jamaican-born poet and novelist

Caribbean Books

Books from the Caribbean

Papillote Press is a small, independent publishing house specialising in books about Dominica and the wider Caribbean.

“Papillote Press is committed to telling our stories in books that are made to be treasured.” Marina Salandy-Brown, founder and director of the Bocas Lit Fest

“Papillote Press has been etching out a space for themselves as an outlet for burgeoning talent.” Richard Georges, poet, winner of the Bocas Lit Fest award for Caribbean literature, 2020

Updates

Elma Napier Remembered

It is 50 years this month since the death of Elma Napier, writer, pioneering environmentalist, and the first woman to sit in a West Indian House of Assembly.

And Still They Stand

Blog Post about two reviews of Papillote Press’ Still Standing: the Ti Kais of Dominica by Adom Philogene Heron, with photographs by Marica Honychurch.

FEATURED BOOK

Cover of children's picture book, Good Night My Sweet Island

Good Night My Sweet Island

By Petrea Honychurch Seaman
Illustrations by Susanne Heitz

ISBN: 9781838041595
Original paperback
Price: £7.99
Publication: September 2023

Saying good night “to all things we love”: in a homage to a magical Caribbean island, Good Night My Sweet Island takes the reader through a poetic and visually stimulating journey. Each verse celebrates aspects of tropical island life: birds and beaches, fruits and forests, dancing and music, rivers and rain. As the sun goes down, a child says a dreamy good night to all the rich experiences of the day.

“A beautifully illustrated poetic depiction of an island I love with all my heart.” – Trish Cooke, author of So Much and Look Back!

“A feast for the ears and eyes. Beautiful.”
– Margaret Bateson-Hill, author of Masha and the Firebird

The rhythms, sights and sounds of the Caribbean are beautifully captured. A real joy.” – Valerie Bloom, Jamaican-born poet and novelist

Recent and Recommended

Still Standing, Ti Kais of Dominica

Still Standing

The Ti Kais of Dominica

By Adom Philogene Heron
Photographs by Marica Honychurch

ISBN: 9781838041588
2022, Paperback, £21.50

“A truly superb introduction to a traditional, yet evolving, element of Caribbean vernacular architecture and a fine example of creolization in material culture.” New West Indian Guide 98, forthcoming in “Bookshelf 2023”, spring 2024

This beautifully illustrated book is a celebration of the vanishing vernacular architecture of Dominica. These small wooden homes, ingeniously crafted and carefully adapted to their environment, have withstood hurricanes and earthquakes since their emergence in the post-emancipation period. While many modern, concrete homes have been destroyed, they are “still standing’. Even so, they are under threat from the forces of ‘modernity’ and ‘development’.

Read more >

Book cover for White River Blues, Papillote Press, Dominica

Black Man Listen

The Life of JR Ralph Casimir

By Kathy Casimir MacLean

ISBN: 9781838041526
2022, Paperback, £8.99

This is the first biography of the pioneering life of JR Ralph Casimir (1898-1986), a Pan- Africanist and poet from Dominica. Calling himself a “New Negro”, for more than half a century he confronted not just colonial rule, but his island’s elites.

Read more >

Book cover for White River Blues, Papillote Press, Dominica

A Scream in the Shadows

By Mac Donald Dixon

ISBN: 9781838041533
2022, Paperback, £8.99

So close to home… so far from justice… so far from paradise.

A compelling crime story set in the rural Caribbean where traditional allegiances and a flawed legal system provide a backdrop to the rape and murder of a young girl. When her step-father is accused of the crime, her brother joins the police to try and clear their father’s name. While the suspect languishes in jail, the young detective makes some disturbing discoveries.

Read more >

Dangerous Freedom, Papillote Press, Dominica

Dangerous Freedom

By Lawrence Scott

ISBN: 9781999776862
2021, Paperback, £10.99

‘This is a thought-provoking and subtle novel, from an award-winning Trinidadian writer, which will not be easily forgotten,’ says the Historical Novel Society

In this radical and moving historical novel, Scott weaves fact with fiction to reveal “the great deception” exercised by the powerful on a mixed-race child born in the late 18th century and brought up in the London home of England’s Lord Chief Justice.

Dido Belle was the daughter of an African-born enslaved woman and the sea-faring nephew of Lord Mansfield…

Read more >

RECOMMENDED

Still Standing, Ti Kais of Dominica

Still Standing

The Ti Kais of Dominica

By Adom Philogene Heron
Photographs by Marica Honychurch

ISBN: 9781838041588
2022, Paperback, £21.50

This beautifully illustrated book is a celebration of the vanishing vernacular architecture of Dominica. These small wooden homes, ingeniously crafted and carefully adapted to their environment, have withstood hurricanes and earthquakes since their emergence in the post-emancipation period. While many modern, concrete homes have been destroyed, they are “still standing’. Even so, they are under threat from the forces of ‘modernity’ and ‘development’.

Read more >

Book cover for White River Blues, Papillote Press, Dominica

Black Man Listen

By Kathy Casimir MacLean

ISBN: 9781838041526
2022, Paperback, £8.99

This is the first biography of the pioneering life of JR Ralph Casimir (1898-1986), a Pan- Africanist and poet from Dominica. Calling himself a “New Negro”, for more than half a century he confronted not just colonial rule, but his island’s elites.

Read more >

Book cover for White River Blues, Papillote Press, Dominica

A Scream in the Shadows

By Mac Donald Dixon

ISBN: 9781838041533
2022, Paperback, £8.99

So close to home… so far from justice… so far from paradise.

A compelling crime story set in the rural Caribbean where traditional allegiances and a flawed legal system provide a backdrop to the rape and murder of a young girl. When her step-father is accused of the crime, her brother joins the police to try and clear their father’s name. While the suspect languishes in jail, the young detective makes some disturbing discoveries.

Read more >

Dangerous Freedom, Papillote Press, Dominica

Dangerous Freedom

By Lawrence Scott

ISBN: 9781999776862
2021, Paperback, £10.99

‘This is a thought-provoking and subtle novel, from an award-winning Trinidadian writer, which will not be easily forgotten,’ says the Historical Novel Society

In this radical and moving historical novel, Scott weaves fact with fiction to reveal “the great deception” exercised by the powerful on a mixed-race child born in the late 18th century and brought up in the London home of England’s Lord Chief Justice.

Dido Belle was the daughter of an African-born enslaved woman and the sea-faring nephew of Lord Mansfield…

Read more >

featured contributors

Adom Philogene Heron

Adom Philogene Heron is an ethnographer of the Caribbean whose scholarship centres on Caribbean ecologies, hurricanes, and repair; Britain’s haunted post-imperial land/seascapes; and Caribbean fatherhood and family lives. 

Read more >

Marica Honychurch

Marica Honychurch is a photographer and videographer from Dominica. After living abroad, she has returned to her roots working in travel, portrait and documentary. 

Read more >

Kathy Casimir MacLean

Kathy Casimir MacLean was born in Dominica, and lives in London. She was head of the Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA) Service in Wandsworth’s Children’s Services, south London…

Read more >

Mac Donald Dixon

Mac Donald Dixon was born in St Lucia, West Indies, where he still lives. He is best known as a playwright, but is also an accomplished poet, painter and photographer.

Read more >

featured contributors

Adom Philogene Heron

Adom Philogene Heron is an ethnographer of the Caribbean whose scholarship centres on Caribbean ecologies, hurricanes, and repair; Britain’s haunted post-imperial land/seascapes; and Caribbean fatherhood and family lives.

Read more >

Marica Honychurch

Marica Honychurch is a photographer and videographer from Dominica. After living abroad, she has returned to her roots working in travel, portrait and documentary.

Read more >

Kathy Casimir MacLean

Kathy Casimir MacLean was born in Dominica, and lives in London. She was head of the Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA) Service in Wandsworth’s Children’s Services, south London…

Read more >

Mac Donald Dixon

Mac Donald Dixon was born in St Lucia, West Indies, where he still lives. He is best known as a playwright, but is also an accomplished poet, painter and photographer.

Read more >

Follow us

Follow us

Cover for Papillote Press
874
Papillote Press

Papillote Press

Papillote Press publishes books from Dominica and the wider Caribbean. It's small but lovingly formed

2 weeks ago

Papillote Press
A chance to read an intriguing review of Still Standing - about the ti kai of Dominica - by Adom Philogene Heron and pictures by Marica Honychurch in the Architectural Historian magazine. See our website: www.papillotepress.co.uk/and-still-they-stand/A #vernaclar architecture, #caribbean architecture, #Dominica ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

1 month ago

Papillote Press
To celebrate the US publication date of "Good Night My Sweet Island" by Petrea Honychurch Seaman, illustrated by Susanne Heitz Art, we are shaing just a few details from this gorgeous children's picture book. "Perfect for lulling children to sleep," says the US School Library Journal. #caribbean, #Dominica , #caribbeanliterature , #picturebooks ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

1 month ago

Papillote Press
Trinidadian writer Lawrence Scott received his honorary degree from @University of the West Indies, Trinidad, for his contribution to literature and teaching. Papillote Press publishes his novels, Witchbroom and Dangerous Freedom, and short stories Leaving by Plane Swimming Back Under Water. Congratulations to Lawrence, here giving his address to faculty and students; and, with his wife, Jenny Green. #caribbeanliterature #trinidad ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

1 month ago

Papillote Press
Phyllis Shand Allfrey said "Politics ruined me for writing". But here's the proof that it wasn't true - although perhaps her output would have been larger if she had not co-founded the Dominica Labour Party and become a minister in the West Indies Federation. Happy to publish her novel, short stories, poems. #Dominica, #Caribbeanliterature, #caribbeanpoetry, ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

2 months ago

Papillote Press
Thanks to the US-based Jambo Books for choosing Look Back! By Trish Cooke Writer For their October book choiceCheck out our lineup of books for October on the way to our subscribers, ages 5-6! 🎃Look Back! by Trish Cooke Writer and Caroline Binch: Illustrator-Artist Benita and the Night Creatures by Mariana Llanos-Author Page and Cocoretto Illustration Barefoot Books ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook