Nicole Dennis-Benn on her new novel, “Patsy”
Listen 49:00
(Courtesy of the author)
Guest: Nicole Dennis-Benn
Jamaican novelist NICOLE DENNIS-BENN’s new book Patsy is about a mother who leaves her 5-year-old daughter in Jamaica to reunite with an old lover and look for better opportunities in New York. Dennis-Benn, who immigrated to the U.S. when she was a teenager, explores the challenges that Patsy faces as an undocumented worker in the city, and the struggles her daughter Tru faces at home as she struggles with her sexual identity. Dennis-Benn, who’s first novel, Here Comes the Sun won wide acclaim, comes in to talk about her timely new story about immigration, motherhood, gender, and sexuality.