PROVIDENCIA, Sean Frederick Forbes' debut poetry collection, offers deeply personal poetry that digs beneath the surface of family history and myth. This coming of age narrative traces the experience of a gay, mixed-race narrator who confronts the traditions of his parents' and grandparents' birthplace: the seemingly idyllic island of Providencia, Colombia against the backdrop of his rough and lonely life in Southside Jamaica, Queens. These lyric poems open doors onto a third space for the speaker, one that does not isolate or hinder his sexual, racial, and artistic identities. Written in both free verse and traditional poetic forms, PROVIDENCIA conjures numerous voices, images, and characters to explore the struggles of self-discovery.

SEAN FREDERICK FORBES is a poet and teaches writing and poetry at the University of Connecticut. He studied English and Africana Studies at Queens College, The City University of New York where he was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Connecticut. His poems have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, The Midwest Quarterly and Sargasso: A Journal of Caribbean Literature, Language, and Culture. PROVIDENCIA is his first poetry collection.