Nicole Dennis-Benn – Foyles

27th June, 2019

Join authors Nicole Dennis-Benn and Candice Carty-Williams as they discuss their novels Patsy and Queenie, in conversation with arts critic and editor Lucy Popescu.

In the widely-acclaimed Patsy, US-based Dennis-Benn creates a portrait of a woman who moves from Jamaica to America, leaving behind her daughter, to pursue a better life and the possibility of love. Told through vignettes across more than a decade, the book tackles themes of abandonment, immigration, the failed American dream, identity and sexuality. OfPatsy, Dennis-Benn’s second novel, Time magazine wrote that it “maps the internal terrain of black women yearning to be free—without romanticizing or ignoring their flaws… Patsy fills a literary void with compassion, complexity and tenderness.”

The bestselling Queenie from south London-based author and journalist Candice Carty-Williams has been celebrated as a hilarious and quietly devastating story of love, the end of a relationship, and the tribulations of navigating contemporary London life as a millennial black woman. Carty-Williams’ debut novel comes with rave reviews from Dolly Alderton, Kit de Waal and Jojo Moyes, and the Guardian called it “a 21st century Bridget Jones”.

Hear from Dennis-Benn and Carty-Williams as they discuss their writing, how they draw from their shared Jamaican heritage, and the creation of the memorable black female protagonists at the hearts of their novels.

This event will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.