Occupation Novelist Role Writer Name Marlon James | Period 2002–present Nationality Jamaican Awards Man Booker Prize | |
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Born 24 November 1970 (age 53) ( 1970-11-24 ) Alma mater University of the West Indies, Wilkes University Notable works A Brief History of Seven Killings Nominations NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction Education Wilkes University (2006), University of the West Indies Books A Brief History of Seven Kil, The Book of Night Women, John Crow's devil | ||
Marlon james with isaac fitzgerald walt whitman writers series
Marlon James (born 24 November 1970) is a Jamaican writer. He has published three novels: John Crow's Devil (2005), The Book of Night Women (2009), and A Brief History of Seven Killings (2014), winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize. Now living in Minneapolis, James teaches literature at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Contents
- Marlon james with isaac fitzgerald walt whitman writers series
- Marlon james a brief history of seven killings
- Early life
- Career
- Works
- Awards and recognition
- References
Marlon james a brief history of seven killings
Early life
James was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to parents who were both in the Jamaican police: his mother (who gave him his first prose book, a collection of stories by O. Henry) became a detective and his father (from whom James took a love of Shakespeare and Coleridge) a lawyer. James is a 1991 graduate of the University of the West Indies, where he read Language and Literature. He left Jamaica because he was scared of homophobic violence. He received a master's degree in creative writing from Wilkes University (2006).
Career
James has taught English and creative writing at Macalester College since 2007. His first novel, John Crow's Devil – which was rejected 70 times before being accepted for publication – tells the story of a biblical struggle in a remote Jamaican village in 1957. His second novel, The Book of Night Women, is about a slave woman's revolt in a Jamaican plantation in the early 19th century. His most recent novel, 2014's A Brief History of Seven Killings, explores several decades of Jamaican history and political instability through the perspectives of many narrators. It won the fiction category of the 2015 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, having been the first book by a Jamaican author ever to be shortlisted. He is the second Caribbean winner of the prize, following Trinidad-born V. S. Naipaul who won in 1971. James has indicated his next work will be a fantasy novel, titled Black Leopard, Red Wolf. It will be the first in a series.