Joan Dayal

Joan Dayal, proprietor of Paper Based, one of the Caribbean’s leading independent bookshops, is the recipient of the 2017 Bocas Henry Swanzy Award for Distinguished Service to Caribbean Letters. Since its inception, Paper Based has been home not only to the sale of titles in Caribbean fiction, non-fiction, and poetry: through a regular reading series, it has become a platform for the voices of both emerging and established Caribbean writers. Dayal’s business acumen is rooted in a tireless, passionate love of local and regional writing, and it is through this lens that her work at Paper Based has supported, enriched, and amplified the bookshelves of thousands of Caribbean readers. Through her careful and meticulous cumulative years of research, market appraisal, and consultations with independent and industry publishers, Dayal has turned bookselling and Caribbean literary representation at Paper Based into a titanic institution.