Jamaican novelist Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker Prize on Tuesday with his book, A Brief History of Seven Killings.
Inspired by the 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley, A Brief History of Seven Killings follows a host of characters, including gunmen, drug dealers, CIA agents, reporters and "The Singer" himself, to explore the unrest of Kingston, Jamaica, in the '70s.
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"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," wrote Michael Wood, chair of the judges for the Booker Prize. "It moves at a terrific pace and will come to be seen as a classic of our times."
Winner of the #ManBooker2015 is Marlon James with A Brief History of Seven Killings http://t.co/aZ5jtxMcVN pic.twitter.com/pgSMPXHnMz— Man Booker Prize (@ManBookerPrize) October 13, 2015
James is the first Jamaican-born novelist to be shortlisted and win the prize, only becoming eligible for the award in 2013 when the Man Booker Prize widened its criteria to include any English-language work of fiction published in the UK. Previously, only writers from the UK and Commonwealth nations, Ireland or Zimbabwe were eligible.
The other books nominated this year were: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota and Satin Island by Tom McCarthy.
You can read an excerpt from A Brief History of Seven Killings here.