1. Nicole Dennis-Benn is known for her 2016 debut novel, Here Comes the Sun, which was named a "Best Book of the year" by The New York Times, and for her best-selling novel, Patsy, acclaimed by Time, NPR, People Magazine, and Oprah Magazine.
19 Facts About Nicole Dennis-Benn
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Nicole Dennis-Benn's voice has been described as bold and provocative with an urgency to tell the stories she'd always wanted to read as a young girl growing up in Jamaica.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn's books have remained as must-reads on various major lists since publication and have been translated into multiple languages, including German, Italian, French, and Portuguese.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn's family lived in Vineyard Town, where she spent most of her childhood before moving to Portmore, St Catherine.
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When she was 11 years old, Dennis-Benn won an academic scholarship to the prestigious St Andrew High School for Girls in Kingston.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn wrote throughout her college years to cope with her homesickness and found that she enjoyed writing more than her pre-med courses.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn married her wife, Dr Emma Benn, in May 2012 in Jamaica.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn describes parts of Jamaica as safer for same-sex couples and has committed and engaged LGBTQ friends on the island.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn followed the success of her debut novel with a highly-acclaimed bestseller, PATSY, which became a Read with Jenna Today Show Book-club pick.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn is a two time Lambda Literary Award winner for her novels, Here Comes the Sun and PATSY.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn is a recipient of the National Foundation for the Arts Grant.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn's novels have appeared on several must-read and best-of-book lists.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn has written for VOGUE, The New York Times, ELLE Magazine, Catapult, Red Rock Review, Kweli Literary Journal, Ebony, and the Feminist Wire.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn describes her work as "love letters" to her homeland.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn was motivated to write because of these issues and her own experiences with them.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn explains that her ability to write came only once she was in America, and that other LGBT Jamaicans have had similar experiences.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn describes being Jamaican as being "an ambassador" to the rest of the world.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn spends some of the little money her family has on cream from an old fisherman's wife, in an attempt to lighten her skin.
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Nicole Dennis-Benn explains that as tourism picked up, "the developers and government alike became ravenous, indifferent" to the struggles of their people in the quest for profits.