Poinciana Paper Press: a publishing model for the Caribbean

In 2007, with a ten-minute InDesign tutorial, a manuscript of poems, and a needle and thread to bind some pages together, I made my first handmade book and manifested my press: Poinciana Paper Press. Since then, the mission of my small press has evolved from publishing exclusively handmade and limited-edition books of Caribbean literature to using multiple forms of publishing to advance the diversity of narratives in Caribbean literature. At first a nomadic press, I am committed to establishing Poinciana Paper Press in my home country, The Bahamas, to position it as a major collaborator in the literary and visual arts communities in the region. To that end, presented here are four projects that propose a direction for my press: The Best Estimation in the World (a model for full-length book design and distribution for my work and work by others); Current Books (a model for chapbook design and institutional collaboration); The Red Thread Cycle (a model for artist book projects and artistic collaboration); and The Craftsman Press Archive (a model for ongoing digital publishing projects and community collaboration). In their collective subject matter that resists the singular Caribbean narrative, in their range of materials and forms that span from handmade limited-edition printed books to websites, and in their outreach, these projects lay the groundwork for an unprecedented publishing model in The Caribbean.