LONDON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings in London Tuesday night.
The 44-year-old author, a current resident of Minneapolis, is the first Jamaican scribe to win the literary award in its 47-year history.
"This book is startling in its range of voices and registers, running from the patois of the street posse to The Book of Revelation. It is a representation of political times and places, from the CIA intervention in Jamaica to the early years of crack gangs in New York and Miami," Michael Wood, chair of the judges, said in a statement. "It is a crime novel that moves beyond the world of crime and takes us deep into a recent history we know far too little about. It moves at a terrific pace and will come to be seen as a classic of our times."
The 686-page epic is set in Kingston and is a fictional account of the 1976 attempted murder of reggae legend Bob Marley. The recording artist died of cancer in 1981. He was 36.
As the 2015 Booker Prize winner, James took home the $77,000 cash award, a trophy and a designer, bound edition of his book, as well as an additional $3,800 for being among the year's finalists.
