Jamaican author Marlon James has won the Man Booker Prize for his novel inspired by the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 1970s. Not bad for a guy who's first novel was rejected 70 times.
The 44-year-old author was presented with his prize by the Duchess of Cornwall and took home the coveted award with his third novel, A Brief History Of Seven Killings, which creates a fictional history of the attempted murder of Bob Marley in 1976.
The judges unanimously picked the book as the winner after "more than one but less than two hours of deliberation," according to Michael Wood, chairman of the judging panel.
James, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica, teaches creative writing in Minnesota in the United States.
His winning book takes the attempted assassination of reggae superstar Bob Marley as the starting point for an examination of organised crime and political corruption on the Caribbean island.
It is set just weeks before the general election and two days before Marley was set to play the Smile Jamaica concert to ease political tensions.
An option to turn the Booker winner into a film has already been taken up by HBO, and James told a post-victory press conference: "We have a script already, we have a director who is interested, and everybody is very excited."
Speaking about his win last night he said: "Jamaica has a really rich literary tradition. It is kind of surreal being the first and I really hope I will not be the last. I do not think I will be because there is this real universe of spunky creativity that is happening. For me, first just means the first to get attention. I think there is a lot more that is coming.
Despite the dozens of rejections, his first novel - John Crow's Devil - was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It was also a New York Editor's Choice.
James beat off stiff competition from Tom McCarthy, Chigozie Obioma, Sunjeev Sahota, Anne Tyler and Hanya Yanagihara, to take home the grand prize of £50,000. All of the shortlisted authors will receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book.
Ireland's Laureate for Fiction, Anne Enright, won the 2007 Man Booker with The Gathering and her latest novel and family saga, The Green Road had been one of 13 books on the long-list for the £50,000 prize.
