Illustrating the ‘postcolonial experience’: 40 years of Peepal Tree Press

A rare story … Peepal tree became a viable supplier of books and stuck to its distinctive roots. Illustration: Peepal/Getty/Joe Plimmer/The Guardian

Hello and welcome to the Long Wave. This week, I had the huge pleasure of an audience with Peepal Tree Press, which has been home to authors such as Bernardine Evaristo and Roger Robinson. Peepal Tree publishes books from the Caribbean and its diaspora, and has just celebrated its 40th anniversary. I spoke to its founder, Jeremy Poynting, and fiction editor Jacob Ross, and what ensued was a masterclass not only in publishing, but in diasporic art.

A passion that became a publisher