Polly Pattullo was a journalist, author and editor before becoming the co-founder of Papillote Press, which specialises in books about the Caribbean. As a journalist she worked on the Observer, the Guardian and the monthly newsletter Caribbean Insight, which prompted the writing of books about the Caribbean, including Last Resorts: the Cost of tourism in the Caribbean (1996) and Fire from the Mountain (2000) about the Montserrat volcano crisis. She started Papillote Press – having self-published a book about the gardens of Dominica – in order to promote and encourage books by Dominicans and to draw attention to the culture and history of the island, where she lives for much of the year.