My name is Paul Crask. I’m from England and I’ve been living and working in Dominica since 2005.
In that time, I’ve written travel and culture articles for international and regional publications, authored four editions of two Bradt guidebooks, and produced several independent magazines, including Dominica Traveller, Dominica Geographic, and Gade Mwen.
In 2024, after almost 20 years spent promoting the island with my work, I decided to step away from travel journalism. Nowadays, I predominantly write and photograph stories on culture (creative minds), my garden (backyard diary), and the island walks that I enjoy (making tracks). I’ve been an insatiable traveller for most of my life, and still am, but I’ve grown somewhat disenchanted with the way modern tourism works. I believe in slow, meaningful travel, in being curious, in showing up for more than just the photo.
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” Anthony Bourdain
I continue to write and photograph freelance/commissioned articles, and I’m a fairly regular contributor to the wonderful Caribbean Beat magazine. Since switching things up, I’ve also taken up art (see my ink and watercolour sketches) and I’m learning art history through books and travel.
I’m a keen gardener and backyard naturalist (I’ve written several articles for the fabulous Hortus gardening journal), and I cultivate and roast my own coffee.
Everything you read here is a personal perspective (views are my own, as they say), and reflects the aspects of island life here that interest me most. My imagined urban sketches are whimsical, occasionally satirical, and for sale!
I was born in 1965 and grew up in the north of England. In 1988 I graduated from the University of Leeds with an honours degree in German Language and Literature. At university, I worked as a journalist for the award-winning Leeds Student newspaper, writing film and theatre reviews. I also studied behind the iron curtain at the former Karl Marx University of Leipzig in what used to be East Germany, where I was followed everywhere by the secret police (Stasi). In addition to ten years working as a project manager in London, I’ve also lived and worked in Germany (one year as a teacher) and Japan (two years as a teacher). It was in England where I met Celia, my wife. She was born and grew up here in Dominica. Dropping out and moving here in 2005 was an easy decision for us both.
I’m rather introverted and find social events difficult and small talk impossible. My happy places are in the garden (especially early morning), Dominica’s forests, and walking the streets of my favourite cities, enjoying art galleries, museums, markets, green spaces, and architecture.
Although Dominica has become my home and I’ve explored and written about so much of it, I still consider myself English. I’m lucky to have the perspectives of both an insider and an outsider at the same time.
Despite many misgivings about the way some things are evolving here, I’m content that another Dominica exists regardless – quiet, grounded, thriving beneath the radar, and rooted in the fertile soil of a resilient nature island.
If you’d like to get in touch, you can email me at: paulcrask@gmail.com