Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1970, and grew up steeped in literature through his father, a police officer who introduced him to writers including Coleridge and Shakespeare. He studied at the University of the West Indies before earning a master's degree in creative writing at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, later becoming a professor of English at Macalester College in Minnesota.
James published his first novel, John Crow's Devil, in 2005 after it was rejected by dozens of publishers, followed by The Book of Night Women in 2009, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His breakthrough came with his third novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, a sprawling 680-page epic using the 1976 attempted assassination of Bob Marley as a backdrop to explore three decades of Jamaican gang violence and politics through more than 75 narrators.
In 2015, James won the Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings, becoming the first Jamaican author to win the UK's most prestigious literary award. He went on to publish the fantasy epic Black Leopard, Red Wolf, drawing on African mythology and earning comparisons to an 'African Game of Thrones,' along with its sequel Moon Witch, Spider King, cementing his reputation as one of contemporary literature's most ambitious voices.
- First Jamaican author to win the Man Booker Prize (2015)
- Winner of the American Book Award and Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
- Author of the National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf
- Professor of English at Macalester College, Minnesota
- Rejection does not have to be final.. His debut novel was turned down by dozens of publishers before finally finding one.
- Ambitious structure can be a strength, not an obstacle.. His use of over 75 narrators in A Brief History of Seven Killings became one of the novel's most praised features.
- Draw confidently from your own cultural voice.. His deliberate use of Jamaican patois and reggae influence became central to his literary identity, not something to minimise.