BIOGRAPHY

O’Brien Dennis’ life has been anything but easy; however, he has not been anything but persistent. He was born and raised on the Island of Jamaica. The absence of Dennis’ biological father and his mother’s hectic work schedule in maintaining her household made Dennis’ early years challenging. Dennis was sexually abused while living in the ghettos of Kingston by a trusted neighbor. For years he lived in denial and shame of the abuse and sought refuge within the church that later shut its doors on him for his candidness and honest demure.

At fourteen, his neighbor raped him. Not knowing who to turn to, how to deal with the situation, Dennis returned to his neighbor and was again and again sexually abused. Dennis refers to this experience as “the big, dark pit that swallowed him alive.” He, nonetheless, courageously climbed out of the darkness, relying on his internal strength to save him. He remembered one important lesson his maternal grandmother taught him: “Never bow down in the face of adversity". "The Lord is testing you.” Without telling a single person about the abuse, Dennis, enrolled himself in college and earned, a bachelor’s degree in African History with a minor in International Relations from the University of the West Indies.

“The Cries of Men: Voices of Jamaican Men who have been Raped and Sexually Abused”, the first major publication by Dennis, is, in short, a victory. In this vivid and often blunt biography, Dennis recounts the horrid tales of his abuse in languages that is both raw and direct, forcing his readers to glimpse, even if uncomfortable, into his horror. Dennis is currently in the final blue print of his first major work of fiction centered on the complexities of sexuality within relationships nestled in an island paradise.

Dennis now resides in Westchester Country in New York State and is involved in many community outreach programs. Dennis recently launched a not-for-profit the O’Brien Dennis Foundation. The mission of the O’Brien Dennis Foundation is to educate families throughout the five boroughs of New York City about male sexual abuse and male sexual violence. Our efforts will be to develop effective strategies that will empower male victims to seek help and to overcome the effects of both sexual violence and abuse. The O’Brien Dennis Foundation will also provide counseling and educational services to motivate young male victims to live more productive lives.

Dennis is a recent graduate student at Metropolitan College of New York, where he earned a Masters of Public Administration. His dissertation focused on how to help male victims of sexual assault break their silence and to take an ecological approach in addressing the issues of male sexual abuse. Dennis, in his spare time, is working on his first work of fiction, a love story that entwine, deception, lust, infidelity, and the complexities of.