Nicole Dennis-Benn

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BOOK TOUR/EVENTS UPCOMING EVENTS JUNE 2019 Tuesday, June 4th, 7PM PATSY LAUNCH - Brooklyn Greenlight Bookstore (PLG), 632 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn Nicole Dennis-Benn will launch her second most anticipated novel, PATSY, with U.S. Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith. Stay tuned for more details. For more information, click here. Thursday, June 6th, 7:30PM PATSY Book Tour - Philadelphia Free Library of Philadelphia - Parkway Central Library Nicole Dennis-Benn will be in conversation with Rebecca Makkai. For more information, click here. Saturday, June 8th, 6PM PATSY Book Tour - Washington, DC Politics & Prose at Union Market For more information, click here. Monday, June 10th, 6:30PM PATSY Book Tour - NYC New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd St. Stay tuned for more details. For more information, click here. Tuesday, June 11th, 7PM PATSY Book Tour - Austin Austin Central Public Library BookPeople and Kirkus Reviews will be hosting Nicole Dennis-Benn in conversation with Clay Smith, the Editor-in-Chief of Kirkus Reviews. For more information, click here. Wednesday, June 12th, 7PM PATSY Book Tour - Denver Tattered Cover Historic LoDo For more information, click here. Tuesday, June 18th PATSY Book Tour - Los Angeles Scripps Presents Stay tuned for more details. Wednesday, June 19th, 7PM PATSY Book Tour - Seattle Seattle Public Library, Central Library For more information, click here. Thursday, June 20th, 7:30PM PATSY Book Tour - San Francisco Green Apple Books, 9th Ave. For more information, click here. Friday, June 21st PATSY Book Tour - Miami Books & Books Stay tuned for more details. Tuesday, June 25th PATSY Book Tour - Key West Books & Books Stay tuned for more details. JULY 2019 Thursday, July 11th PATSY Book Tour - Brooklyn Brooklyn Museum w/ PEN Summer Salon series Stay tuned for more details. Tuesday, July 16th PATSY Book Tour - Providence Point Street Reading Series Stay tuned for more details. Sunday, July 28th PATSY Book Tour - Washington, DC Solid State Bookstore w/ Lupita Reads LIT on H St series Stay tuned for more details. AUGUST 2019 August 30th - September 1st PATSY Book Tour - Decatur Decatur Book Festival Stay tuned for more details. SEPTEMBER 2019 September 4th-8th PATSY Book Tour - Cape Town, South Africa Open Book Festival Stay tuned for more details. Sunday, September 22nd PATSY Book Tour - Brooklyn Brooklyn Book Festival Stay tuned for more details. Sunday, September 29th PATSY Book Tour - Princeton Princeton Public Library Sunday Book Brunch Stay tuned for more details. OCTOBER 2019 October 24th-27th PATSY Book Tour - Lagos, Nigeria Ake Book Festival Stay tuned for more details. PAST EVENTS APRIL 2019 April 11th NYU Master Class NYU Creative Writing Program Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured lecturer. For more information, click here. April 27th Art as Resistance: Identity and Politics in Literature and the Arts Princeton University Nicole Dennis-Benn will deliver keynote for the Princeton Collegiate Literary Conference. MARCH 2019 March 26th Queens College MFA Reading Queens College MFA Program Nicole Dennis-Benn will be giving a reading and talk. For more information, click here. OCTOBER 2018 October 25-28th Ake Arts and Book Festival Lagos, Nigeria For more information, click here. Saturday, October 13th The Writers Room The 13th Annual New York Writers Coalition Write-A-Thon 740 Broadway at Astor Place, 12 FL, NY, NY 1003 Nicole Dennis-Benn will be the Keynote Speaker. For more information, click here. Tuesday, October 9th, 6:30 PM Barnard College Caribbean Feminisms on the Page NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be in conversation with Erna Brodber. For more information, click here. SEPTEMBER 2018 September 5-9, 2018 Cape Town Open Book Festival South Africa For more information, click here. AUGUST 2018 Sunday, August 5th, 6:30 PM Courtleigh Hotel Auditorium We Change Jamaica Keynote - This Side of Paradise Kingston, Jamaica Nicole Dennis-Benn will deliver keynote on art and activism. For more information, click here. JULY 2018 Saturday, July 21st, 10 AM The New York Times Conference Building Kweli International Literary Festival NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will deliver the keynote. For more information, click here. July 24-26 Randolph College Low Residency MFA Program Guest Lecture Lynchburg, VA Nicole Dennis-Benn guest lectures in fiction. For more information, click here. APRIL 2018 April 11, 2018 Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ Africana Lecture Series. For more information, click here. MARCH 2018 March 4-11, 2018 KINGSTON BOOK FESTIVAL Kingston, Jamaica Nicole Dennis-Benn will be headlining Kingston Book Festival. For more information, click here. FEBRUARY 2018 Friday, February 16, 2018, 6 PM Princeton University C.K. Williams Reading Series Princeton, NJ Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. JANUARY 2018 January 11 - January 14, 2018 Key West Literary Seminar The Writers of the Caribbean Key West, FL Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured alongside Jamaica Kincaid, Edwidge Danticat, and more. For more information, click here. Friday, January 19, 2018 at 6:00pm PEN America 2018 New Members New Books Party Sean Kelly Gallery - 475 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10018 Hosted by Nicole Dennis-Benn, John Avlon, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Saeed Jones, Alexandra Kleeman, Idra Novey, Larissa Pham, sam sax, and Jenny Zhang, the New Members New Books party will be a rousing celebration of the PEN America literary community. For more information and to RSVP, click here. NOVEMBER 2017 Thursday, November 9, 2017, 5 PM Pratt Institute Writer's Forum Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. Thursday, November 16, 2017, 12:30 PM 2017 Langston Hughes Festival Symposium on the Work of Zadie Smith Sponsored by The City College of New York Aaron Davis Hall, Theater B, 160 Covenant Avenue btwn 133rd & 135th, NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author discussing Smith's work and its impact on her work. For more information, click here. Thursday, November 16, 2017, 7 PM NYU Reading Series Sponsored by NYU Creative Writing Program The Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. OCTOBER 2017 October 13 -15, 2017 The James River Writers Conference Richmond, VA Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. October 20-22, 2017 at 7:30pm Las Vegas Book Festival Las Vegas, NV Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. SEPTEMBER 2017 Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 6:00pm First Person Plural Reading Series - Harlem Harlem, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 7:00pm National Book Critics Circle hosts Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends Event: At Home in the World- On Writing, Immigration, and Belonging The Center for Fiction - 17 E 47th Street, NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author. For more information, click here. Sunday, September 17, 2017, 1:00 pm Brooklyn Book Festival Panel: All About Me (And Sometimes You) Center Stage (Columbus Park). Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author For more information about the panel, click here. AUGUST 2017 Saturday, August 5, 2017, 10am - 2pm Nicole Dennis-Benn hosts a Stuyvesant Writing Workshop 1-day Bootcamp Brooklyn, NY For more information, click here. Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 6:00pm Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a featured author for Brooklyn Museum & PEN America's conversation and cocktail series - A SUMMER OF YES! Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY A special spotlight on Caribbean women writers as a nod to the museum’s commitment to highlighting the history of feminism and feminist art with A Year of Yes exhibitions, including a long-overdue account of the centrality of women of color artists and activists during the second wave feminism. Nicole Dennis-Benn will be reading, followed by a moderated conversation on feminism, womanism and activism. For more information, click here. JULY 2017 Friday, July 7, 2017 at 7 pm Nicole Dennis-Benn will be giving a reading and signing books at Revolution Books in Harlem Revolution Books, Harlem, NY For more information, click here. Monday, July 10, 2017 at 8:00pm Franklin Park Reading Series Franklin Park, Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be reading with Jami Attenberg & more. For more information, click here. JUNE 2017 Monday, June 5, 2017 at 7:30pm HERE COMES THE SUN Paperback Launch! Greenlight Bookstore, 632 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be in conversation with Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, followed by a wine reception to celebrate the paperback launch of her debut novel. For more information, click here. To order your paperback copy of Here Comes The Sun, click here. Saturday, June 10, 2017 Maplewood South Orange Book Festival Maplewood, NJ Burgdorff Center (Theatre), 2 PM For more information, click here. Saturday, June 11, 2017 WORD- A Caribbean Lit Fest Brooklyn, NY Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza, 1 PM For more information, click here. Monday, June 12, 2017 The 29th Annual Lambda Literary Awards "Lammys" NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts 566 LaGuardia Place, New York City, 7 PM For more information, click here. Tuesday, June 13, 2017 The New York Public Library and the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses present: Periodically Speaking -Immigrant Voices Nicole Dennis-Benn will join authors Porochista Khakpour, Esther Lin, and Jyothi Natarajan in conversation about the immigrant experience and literature at the New York Public Library, 6 PM For more information, click here. Friday, June 16, 2017 Nantucket Book Festival Nantucket, MA Nicole Dennis-Benn featured: Under Cover of the Sun Atheneum Great Hall, 11:00 AM For more information, click here. MAY 2017 May 18-21, 2017 Anguilla Lit Fest Anguilla For more information, click here here. APRIL 2017 Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 4:30 PM Montclair Literary Festival Guild Room at the First Congregational Church Montclair, NJ An interview/reading about Here Comes the Sun For more information, click here. Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 11:15 AM Bayou City Book Festival Lone Star College, Kingwood Campus, TX Black Box Theatre (PAC). For more information, click here. April 12-14, 2017 Reading, Lecture, and Book Signing sponsored by Bermuda National Library and OUTBermuda Bermuda More details to follow, but mark your calendars for now! April 26-27, 2017 BOCAS Literary Festival Trinidad & Tobago Nicole Dennis-Benn, a featured author at the 2017 BOCAS Lit Fest, will be reading, discussing, and signing her debut novel Here Comes The Sun. For more information, click here. MARCH 2017 Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 6:30pm The Chinua Achebe Lecture Series Presents Nicole Dennis-Benn The City College of New York This lecture series is sponsored by The City College of New York Black Studies Program and the MFA Program. For more information, click here. FEBRUARY 2017 Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 7:30pm African Diaspora: New Dialogues with Nicole Dennis-Benn The South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 S Fitzhugh Ave, Dallas, TX New Dialogues, featuring Nicole Dennis-Benn sponsored by WordSpace and the South Dallas Cultural Center. For more information, click here. Tuesday, February 7, 2017 at 4:00pm Living in Two Worlds: Reading and Author Talk with Nicole Dennis-Benn & Garrard Conley Community College of Philadelphia, The Great Hall, S2-19, Philadelphia, PA Spring 2017 Poets & Writers Festival. For more information, click here. Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 3:00pm What Women Want: Writing Female Desire AWP Conference, Liberty Salon M, Marriott Marquis, Meeting Level Four, Washington, DC Nicole Dennis-Benn, Chinelo Okparanta, Rebecca Schiff and others will discuss the challenges of writing about female desire and reflect on its changing representation in contemporary fiction. For more information, click here. Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 6:30pm Write Together, Fight Together AWP Conference Off-Site Event, U Street Music Hall, 1115 U St. NW, Washington, DC Nicole Dennis-Benn, Melissa Febos, Morgan Parker, and others will be reading from their works related to the theme "Write Together, Fight Together." For more information, click here. Friday, February 10, 2017 at 9:00am A Novelist's Job: The Realities, Joys, and Challenges AWP Conference, Washington Convention Center, Level Two, Room 203AB, Washington, DC Award-winning panelists, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Celeste Ng, Julia Fierro, and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore offer hard-earned advice on building a sustainable career. For more information, click here. Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 12:30pm Yale University Yale Women Leadership Initiative Nicole Dennis-Benn Claudia Rankine, Vinca LaFleur, Ruth Franklin, and Rachel Zucker in conversation. For more information, click here. Monday, February 27, 2017 at 10:00 am Rutgers University Reading and Author Talk with Nicole Dennis-Benn Nicole Dennis-Benn will be a guest in Inside the Writers House, Hosted by Alex Dawson. For more information, click here. Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 5:00pm Duke University Black Feminist Literature and Poetics - Author Talk with Nicole Dennis-Benn hosted by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan JANUARY 2017 January 4 - 8, 2017 Sierra Nevada College Low Residency MFA Program International Semester: Craft Workshop, Reading & Talk (Closed to Public) Portland, Jamaica Wednesday, January 11, 2017 Welcome Home Nicole! Bookophilia, 92 Hope Road, Kingston, Jamaica We're excited to announce that Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun, will be the featured guest for our first book party of 2017! You are invited to join us to welcome home Nicole after an amazing 2016. Look forward to liming with Nicole, readings and best of all wine! It will also be the perfect opportunity to secure your copy of the book and have it signed. To RSVP for this event, email IPUBLISHJA@gmail.com . Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 7:00pm Onward: Writing Against Patriarchy in 2017 and Beyond McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince Street, NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, Cathy Park Hong, Alex Mar and Idra Novey gather to discuss writing against patriarchal expectations as filmmakers, poets, essayists, translators, and novelists and what questions feel most pressing to address now. For more information click here. Monday, January 30, 2017 at 11:00 am House of Speakeasy: Turn the Page Roulette Intermedium, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, Mira Jacob, Jason Reynolds, and Brendan Keily participate in a Matinee Performance of Storytelling & Creative Workshops for New York City Students. For more information click here. DECEMBER 2016 Thursday, December 1, 2016 University of Pennsylvania: Novel Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) Philadelphia, PA Monday, December 5, 2016 at 6:30pm Center for Fiction First Novel Fête Center for Fiction, 17 E. 47th Street, New York, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn along with other 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Shortlisted authors will read from their highly acclaimed debut novels. More details to follow, but mark your calendars for now! Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 6:30pm Center for Fiction Annual Awards Gala Metropolitan Club, One East 60th Street, New York, NY Join Honorary Co-Chairs ZZ Packer and Edward P. Jones, along with the 2015 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Winner, Viet Thanh Nguyen, as they honor Eric Simanoff and announce the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Winner. To learn more and purchase your ticket, click here. Wednesday, December 7, 2016 at 7:00pm Nicole Dennis-Benn & Alexander Chee Host Housing Works' Gin Mingle (By Invitation Only) Housing Works Bookstore, New York, NY Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 7:00pm Behind the Book Reading Series KGB Bar, 85 E 4th Street, New York, NY Behind the Book’s mission is to inspire New York City public school students to love reading by bringing accomplished authors and their books into classrooms and creating rich, innovative literacy programs. Our programs take place in underserved public schools, are part of the class curricula and meet the Common Core Learning Standards. To learn more, click here. NOVEMBER 2016 Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Words Without Borders Gala Three Sixty° Tribeca, 10 Desbrosses Street, New York, NY A terrific group of authors and translators will join us as we celebrate the power of international literature and honor Barbara Epler with the 2016 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature, presented to her by Hilton Als. Nicole Dennis-Benn along with Imbolo Mbue, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Katie Kitamura, and Carlos Labbé will co-host the Words Without Borders Gala Globe Trot. To learn more and to purchase tickets, click here. November 5-6, 2016 Texas Book Festival Austin, TX Thursday, November 10, 2016 University of Pennsylvania: Novel Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) Philadelphia, PA Sunday, November 13, 2016 at 2:00pm The Hustle Reading Series WORD Brooklyn, 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, NY The Hustle is a free every-other-month series that invites writers to discuss the hours they keep, the habits that support their work, how they pay the bills, how they read & write, the importance of community and much more. Nicole Dennis-Benn, will be featured in the November series along with Bridgett M. Davis and Amani Al-Khatahtbeh. For more information, click here. Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 11:00am Miami Book Fair Panel: A Reading From Three Novels Miami, FL In Nicole Dennis-Benn‘s debut, Here Comes the Sun, a cast of unforgettable women battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their Jamaican community. Ali Eteraz‘s debut novel, Native Believer, depicts a second-generation immigrant whose life spins out of control in the pulsating underbelly of Philadelphia. A family hired by a research institute to teach sign language to an abandoned chimp must come to terms with the institute’s questionable studies, in Kaitlyn Greenidge‘s We Love You, Charlie Freeman. For more information, click here. OCTOBER 2016 Sunday, October 2, 2016 Well Read Black Girl in Collaboration with DESIGN*SPONGE New York, NY More details to follow, but mark your calendars for now! Monday, October 3, 2016 Catapult: Fiction Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) New York, NY Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 6:30pm Manhattan College English Department Literary Series Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, a former faculty member of Manhattan College, will be giving a Book Reading and Talk for the Manhattan College English Department's Literary Series. Monday, October 10, 2016 Catapult: Fiction Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) New York, NY Thursday, October 13, 2016 at 7:00pm Water Street Bookstore Reading and Signing 125 Water St, Exeter, NH Friday, October 14, 2016 at 7:00pm Philip Exeter Academy Book Talk and Reading Exeter, NH Monday, October 17, 2016 Catapult: Fiction Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) New York, NY Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 6:00pm University of Pennsylvania Creative Writing Program Reading The Arts Cafe, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA To learn more, click here. Thursday, October 20, 2016 University of Pennsylvania: Novel Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) Philadelphia, PA Monday, October 24, 2016 Catapult: Fiction Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) New York, NY Friday, October 28, 2016 at 8:00pm Electric Literature Genre Ball Ace Hotel, New York, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, along with Helen Phillips and others, will be the author host for the the second annual Electric Literature Genre Ball. To learn more and to register, click here. Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 2:45pm NYC BINDERCON Panel: Writing About Mothers & Daughters Cooper Union, New York, NY Motherhood is a sacred institution in most cultures and therefore is generally not discussed in a negative or even honest light. On this panel, Nicole Dennis-Benn, along with Sandra Rodriguez Barron, Elizabeth Crane, and other prominent writers will take part in a discussion of the topic of mothers and daughters that goes beyond the platitudes and simplistic, idealized portrayals of what is a primal and deeply formative relationship; one that is often rife with conflict and ambivalence. To learn more and to register for BINDERCON, click here. SEPTEMBER 2016 September 2-4, 2016 AJC Decatur Book Festival Decatur, GA Nicole Dennis-Benn, will be featured along with a great literary line-up at the annual AJC Decatur Book Festival. To learn more, click here. Friday, September 9, 2016 at 7:00pm Book Reading & Signing at Main Point Bookstore 116 N. Wayne Avenue, Wayne, PA 19087 Nicole Dennis-Benn, will be reading from her debut novel, Here Comes the Sun. To learn more, click here. Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 2:45pm Slice Literary Writers' Conference: Getting From Here To There Panel Saint Francis College, Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, Emma Straub, and other renowned authors will discuss how they craft rich and elaborate storylines, while expanding on their personal pitfalls and most treasured techniques. To learn more about this Craft Panel and other Slice Literary Writers' Conference events, click here. Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 7:00pm Sackett Street Writers Literary Series BookCourt, 163 Court St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Sackett Street Writers Literary Series returns with a sure to be inspiring conversation with 5 Sackett Street writers (instructors and alums) with recently published books. Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured at this reading alongside Kim Brooks, Anna Solomon, Taylor Larsen and others. The Literary Series will be moderated by Julia Fierro. Thursday, September 15, 2016 Reading at Pete's Candy Store 709 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured along with Rumaan Alam as they read from their debut novels. More details to follow, but mark your calendars for now! September 16-17, 2016 First Annual Provincetown Book Festival Provincetown Public Library, Provincetown, MA Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured alongside a stunning literary line-up at Provincetown's first book festival. More details to follow, but mark your calendars for now! Sunday, September 18, 2016 Brooklyn Book Festival Downtown Brooklyn, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured along with an amazing literary line-up of more than 300 authors at the prestigious Brooklyn Book Festival, which is completely free and open to the public. To learn more, click here. Monday, September 19, 2016 Catapult: Fiction Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) New York, NY Monday, September 26, 2016 2016 PEN/Faulkner Celebration Washington DC Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured alongside other prominent writers reading original compositions about an important theme at the Elizabethan Theatre of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Wednesday, September 28, 2016 Catapult: Fiction Writing Workshop (Closed to Public) New York, NY Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 2:00pm Sarah Lawrence College MFA Program Book Reading and Talk Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, a graduate of the MFA in Fiction Program at Sarah Lawrence College, will be returning to her Alma mater to give a reading and talk with current students and faculty. AUGUST 2016 Sunday, August 7, 2016 Queens Book Festival "Beyond the Limbo: Caribbean Identity in the USA" Panel Queens, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn along with other prominent Caribbean female authors, including Edwidge Danticat and Tiphanie Yanique, will discuss their incorporation of various elements of Caribbean culture into their work and how they use their work to play with and break through preconceived notions of the Caribbean. More details to follow, but mark your calendars for now! Monday, August 8, 2016 at 7:00pm Shameless: Fifth Annual Queer Pride Reading Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby St, New York, NY 10012 Melissa Febos curates her annual all-female Pride reading to share shameless stories of sex, love, rebellion, redemption, and pride. Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured, along with a stellar literary line-up including: Hossannah Asuncion, Amy Gall, Shira Erlichman, Jenny Johnson, Chinelo Okparanta, & Trace Peterson. To learn more, click here. Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 6:30pm Catapult Writing Program Presents #YeahYouWrite Bo's Kitchen & Bar Room, 6 W 24th St, New York, NY 10010 Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured along with a stunning list of authors, including Daniel Jose Older, Rebecca Schiff, & Tony Tulathimutte for a night of readings and literary cocktails to celebrate the launch of Catapult's fall writing workshops, intensives, and master classes. To learn more and to RSVP for #YeahYouWrite, click here. Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 10:15am Writers Digest Annual Conference - Panel: Breaking in: First Time Novelists Share How They Got Their Book Published New York, NY Each year, thousands of writers try to break through the wall of agents, editors, and other gatekeepers to get their novels published. Only a small percentage succeed. In this panel, you’ll hear from a variety of authors, including Nicole Dennis-Benn, who just broke through with publishing houses both small and large. You’ll learn what it took for each of them to finally secure a deal, what the reality of that experience was, the disappointments and the victories, and the lessons learned along the way. It’s a crash course on the real-world issues of getting an agent, getting published, and making a life as a writer. To learn more and to register for the conference, click here. Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 2:00pm NYWC Fort Greene Summer Lit Fest BRIC Media, 647 Fulton St. Brooklyn, NY 11217 Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured along with Kaitlyn Greenidge and Yaa Gyasi as they read from their debut novels in support of the young writers participating in the NYWC workshops. To learn more, click here. Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 5:30pm Book Reading & Signing at Mount Vernon Public Library 28 South First Ave, Mount Vernon, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn, will be reading from her debut novel, Here Comes the Sun. To learn more, click here. JULY 2016 Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 7:00pm Launch of Here Comes the Sun in Brooklyn, NY Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton St (at S. Portland), Brooklyn, NY 11217 Nicole Dennis-Benn in conversation with Ashley Ford, writer and editor for The Guardian, ELLE, BuzzFeed, Lenny Letter, and Slate. DJ Emma B will be spinning the Here Comes the Sun soundtrack with a wine reception to follow. Get ready for a book launch like none other! To learn more, click here. Monday, July 25, 2016 Launch of Here Comes the Sun in Washington DC Politics and Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC Nicole Dennis-Benn in conversation with Marita Golden, award-winning author and President Emeritus of the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 7:00pm Nicole Dennis-Benn in Conversation with Tiphanie Yanique Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby St, New York, NY 10012 A conversation between the two esteemed authors moderated by Glory Edim, Founder of Well-Read Black Girl. JUNE 2016 Friday, June 3, 2016 at 7:00pm CALABASH 2016 Treasure Beach, Jamaica Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured along with a stunning list of authors, including Marlon James, Chigozie Obioma and Nikki Giovanni, at the prestigious and internationally renowned Calabash Festival in her home country of Jamaica. To learn more, click here. Friday, June 15, 2016 at 6:30pm "The Boys on the Hill" Post-reading Panel Discussion Kumble Theatre for the Performing Arts, Long Island University, 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Nicole Dennis-Benn will participate on a discussion panel following a reading of Karl O'Brian Williams' play entitled "The Boys on the Hill" as part of Long Island University's Gay Pride & Caribbean Heritage Month Celebrations. MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW. MAY 2016 Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 7:30pm The Writers' Roadshow 2016 The Invisible Dog, 51 Bergen St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 Nicole Dennis-Benn along with Jennifer Cody Epstein and others will be reading from their much anticipated works. To learn more, click here. Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 2:45pm Library Journal Day of Dialog Big Authors Panel II UIC Forum, Chicago Nicole Dennis-Benn along with Colson Whitehead and others will be discussing their highly anticipated novels. To learn more, click here. Friday, May 13, 2016 at 12:15pm BOOKEXPO AMERICA Content and Digital Conference Hot Fall Fiction 2016 Panel Downtown Stage, McCormick Place, Chicago Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured alongside Christine Sneed, Robert Olen Butler, and Marie Benedict in a panel presentation of the biggest novels for the Fall 2016. To learn more, click here. APRIL 2016 Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 9:00am The 2016 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Los Angeles, California Room 404 AB, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level Nicole Dennis-Benn, along with William Lung, Lydia Conklin, and Erin Judge, will be featured on a panel, entitled "Writing Characters Who Buck Gender Norms." On this panel, moderated by Lucy Jane Bledsoe, the panelists will discuss how they write rounded characters that resist the stereotypes and categories often used to restrict the representation of men and women on the page. To learn more, click here. MARCH 2016 Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 6:00pm The City College of New York Black Studies Program Presents: Women Writing the Caribbean Shepard Hall Room 250, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031 Nicole Dennis-Benn, along with other women writers from the Caribbean, including Tiphanie Yanique, will be featured in a phenomenal panel discussion moderated by Simone A. James Alexander, PhD. To learn more, click here. FEBRUARY 2016 Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 7:00pm Well-Read Black Girl Presents: Reimagining the Literary Canon Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby St, New York, NY 10012 Join Well-Read Black Girl’s debut reading featuring Nicole Dennis-Benn and other fiction writers, poets, and essayists as they celebrate Black History Month and the brilliant narratives of Black women. To learn more, click here. JANUARY 2016 Friday, January 8, 2016 at 6:00pm American Library Association Midwinter Meeting Boston, Massachusetts Nicole Dennis-Benn will be signing ARCs of her debut novel, Here Comes the Sun, at Norton/Liveright's booth #1954. To learn more, click here. SEPTEMBER 2015 Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 8:00pm KIMBILIO In Brooklyn @ MoCADA 80 Hanson Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217 Kimbilio makes its New York debut as an official 2015 Brooklyn Book Fest bookend event. Kimbilio promises a memorable night of literary fun. Featured presenters include Kimbilio fellows Nicole Dennis-Benn, Dianca London Potts, and others. To learn more, visit Kimbilio's website. MAY 2015 Sunday, May 31, 2015 at 6:00pm The Manhattanville Review Presents Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, NY, NY 10012 Nicole Dennis-Benn will be featured at the Manhattanville Review Annual Celebration. Look forward to a night of readings from celebrated writers and Manhattanville alumni contest winners. To learn more, visit the Bowery's website. JANUARY 2015 Friday, January 30, 2015 at 6:00pm Kweli Annual Reading and Conversation Series Sex and Dialect in Black Fiction The New York Times Building, 620 8th Avenue, NY, NY 10018 Nicole Dennis-Benn reads an excerpt of her work along with featured authors Tiphanie Yanique, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, & LaShonda Katrice Barnett. NOVEMBER 2014 Saturday, November 22, 2014 Girls Write Now Place Memoir Workshop 247 W 37th St, NY, NY Nicole Dennis-Benn leads a Craft Talk on place and memoir, drawing from her vividly authentic depiction of Jamaica in her own writing.