Jamaican author Marlon James holds his novel and the award after his book 'A Brief History of Seven Killings' was named as winner of the 2015 Booker Prize 2015 for Fiction, poses for photographers following the award ceremony at the Guildhall in London, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. Marlon James became the first Jamaican winner of the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday with a vivid, violent, exuberant and expletive-laden novel based on the 1976 attempted assassination of Bob Marley.
James was awarded the 50,000 pound ($77,000) prize during a black-tie dinner at London's medieval Guildhall. The 44-year-old author said he almost gave up writing more than a decade ago when his first novel, "John Crow's Devil," was rejected by 70 publishers.
He said winning the Booker Prize was "surreal," and joked that he would spend the prize money on a tailor-made suit or "every William Faulkner novel in hardcover."
He said he hoped his victory would bring "more attention to what's coming out of Jamaica and the Caribbean, because I think there are some brand-new voices coming out who are exploring contemporary society, who are exploring what's beyond politics, what's beyond colonialism."
"A Brief History of Seven Killings" charts political violence in Jamaica and the spread of crack cocaine in the U.S., and hinges on a 1976 attempt on the life of reggae superstar Marley — identified in the book only as "The Singer." The story is told in a cacophony of voices — from gangsters to ghosts, drug dealers to CIA agents — and in dialects ranging from American English to Jamaican patois.
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