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Marlon James

Biography

Marlon James

Marlon James was born in Jamaica in 1970. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction in 2019. His novel A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS won the 2015 Man Booker Prize. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for fiction, and the Minnesota Book Award. It was also a New York Times Notable Book.

James is also the author of THE BOOK OF NIGHT WOMEN, which won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction and an NAACP Image Award. His first novel, JOHN CROW'S DEVIL, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for first fiction and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. James divides his time between Minnesota and New York.

Marlon James

Books by Marlon James

Moon Witch, Spider King
by Marlon James - Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction

In BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In MOON WITCH, SPIDER KING, Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It’s also the story of a century-long feud --- seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch --- that Sogolon had with the Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf
by Marlon James - Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. As Tracker follows his scent, he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James - Fiction, Historical Fiction

On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife and his manager, and injured several others. A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath.