On Tuesday, the Jamaican novelist Marlon James, won the Man Booker Prize in London for his impressive third novel - 'A Brief History of Seven Killings.' The first Jamaican author ever to win the prize.
Man Booker Prize is the most prestigious award in literature that can be awarded to a writer of any nationality for a novel written in English. James was awarded the amount of approximately $76,000 for the judges' unanimous decision, according to reports.
'A Brief History of Seven Killings' is the third novel by the 44 year old Jamaican author Marlon James, that was published by Riverhead Books (a division of Penguin Group founded by Susan Petersen Kennedy in 1993).
The Marlon James' novel is a fictional account of Bob Marley's attempted assassination in Jamaica in the late 1970s, its consequences on the crack wars in New York City in the 1980s and how it changed Jamaica in the 1990s.
James, who also wrote the novels The Book of Night Women and John Crow's Devil, was the first Jamaican writer to win the Man Booker Prize. James muscled out Britain's highest literary honor from a field of six finalists, that included the English novelist, writer, and artist - Tom McCarthy and the author of novels - Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, The Accidental Tourist, and Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler.
Tom McCarthy was a previous Booker nominee, while Anne Tyler, was a Pulitzer Prize-winner.
James' third novel, "A Brief History of Seven Killings," tells a violent tale about the attempted assassination of the Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter and musician - Bob Marley. It was favored by The Washington Post as one of the 10 best books of 2014.
When Marlon James went to give his speech after accepting his award, the Jamaican novelist noted how much previous Booker Prize winners have meant to him and influenced him in his own work.
Marlon James said, "My great turning point as a writer was when a friend of mine handed me Salman Rushdie's novel 'Shame,' " Marlon James also said, "And I remember reading it and being so greatly dismayed by it. . . . The idea that those things were able to be done in fiction just never, never occurred to me."
