[6][7] She is a notable out lesbian and feminist author who explores themes of gender, sexuality, Jamaican life, and its diaspora in her works.
[8] Growing up in Jamaica, Dennis-Benn said "I had felt as if I were the only lesbian in a country in which police turn a blind eye to mob violence against gays, and [where] sex between men is punishable by law.
Despite fears about their high visibility as "out" lesbians, their desire to have an outdoor ceremony, and the history of attacks on same-sex couples on the island, they were able to find a safe venue.
Dennis-Benn describes parts of Jamaica as safer for same-sex couples and has committed and engaged LGBT friends on the island.
[13][18][19][3] She has written for The New York Times, ELLE Magazine, Catapult, Red Rock Review, Kweli Literary Journal, Ebony, and the Feminist Wire.
Dennis-Benn hopes her novel will get “people talking and thinking,” as she explores the "themes of love, identity, sexuality, and belonging" that all readers may be able to connect to.
According to Jennifer Senior, the novel shows “the ugliest legacy of colonialism,” the “self-hatred, passed down from one generation to the next” as Thandi tries to lighten her skin and her sister and mother remain caught up in the sex and tourism trades.
[11] Reni Eddo-Loge describes the novel as "an engaging debut about exploitation and racial prejudice, as seen through the eyes of three women" showing the "creeping colonialism of the hotel industry" and the "effect of displacement" on local peoples.
Dennis-Benn's works cover a number of themes including race, class, colonialism, self-acceptance, self-hatred, homophobia, love, and sexualization.
[25] In an interview with LAFB, she describes how "upward mobility in Jamaica is extremely difficult, which is why a lot of working-class Jamaicans leave."
A small number of Jamaicans, especially lighter skinned, own the resorts and profit from tourism, but many people are stuck in a rut of poverty.
"[26] In Here Comes the Sun, Margot works as a prostitute at the hotel in order to save up additional money for her younger sister, Thandi, to be able to go to private school and then college.
Sharpe and Pinto explain that “Caribbean women see sex work as a legitimate way to raise money for...sending their children to private schools.
Nicole Dennis-Benn shows this in her novel through Margot, who explains the way men (male tourists) so often just want to see her black skin and see what her body looks like.
Sharpe and Pinto confirm that studies show "Tourists often extend the romance of their vacation on an island paradise to the sex workers themselves.
"[32] Christopher Charles notes that the bleaching culture comes from European ideals and Colonialism, since brown Jamaicans were assumed to be half-white and "often receiv[ing] greater access to land and resources as a result of their white ancestry.
Being darker results in insults like "blackie" and though some people bleach for self-esteem or due to self-hatred, it has become an accepted part of Jamaican culture.
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.