Jamaican novelist Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his third novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, but this is far from the first time he's appeared in PW's pages. He was on the cover of our 2014 Best Books issue, and we reviewed his 2005 debut. He's been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award twice, for A Brief History and its predecessor The Book of Night Women. No doubt he'll keep making headlines.
Here's a look at our reviews and more about Marlon James:
Our Reviews
A Brief History of Seven Killings
There are many more than seven killings in James’s (Dayton Literary Peace Prize winner for The Book of Night Women) epic chronicle of Jamaica’s turbulent past, but the centerpiece is the attempted assassination of Bob Marley on December 3, 1976.
John Crow's Devil
Set in James's native Jamaica, this dynamic, vernacular debut sings of the fierce battle between two flawed preachers. In 1957, the village of Gibbeah is a dusty remnant of the plantation era, halfheartedly ministered to by drunken Pastor Hector Bligh, aka the Rum Preacher.
Kingston Noir
Akashic's latest in its series of city-specific noir anthologies, to which James is a contributor, explores Kingston's "turbulent dynamics, [and] the way its boundaries of color, class, race, gender, ideology, and sexual privilege crisscross like storm-tangled power lines" through 11 original stories.
Other Features
PW's Top Authors Pick Their Favorite Books of 2014
James and our other favorite 2014 authors pick their favorite books by other writers from that year. James picked Citizen by Claudia Rankine.
Most Anticipated Books of 2014
A Brief History was on our most-anticipated list, along with many other books that have garnered buzz in the past year.
