Award-winning Jamaican novelist Marlon James is living a writer’s dream. Having created history in 2015 as the first Jamaican to win the prestigious Booker Prize – the leading literary award for English speaking fiction writers – for his book A Brief History of Seven Killings, James is currently juggling multiple projects, including deals with Amazon, and Channel 4 to adapt filmed adaptations of his various works.
Appearing on last week’s episode of TVJ’s Rolling with Dewight Peters via ZOOM from Minnesota amid the brutish winter storm that enveloped a large swath of the United States, the snowed-in James revealed to Peters that in addition to currently developing and writing a detective series based in Jamaica for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, he is also penning the follow-up to his 2019 bestselling fantasy novel Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which he said, “my publishers expect me to turn in next year.”
Also on tap for James is a forthcoming TV series for the streaming service Amazon based on his critically-acclaimed Booker Prize book.
The 50-year-old Jamaican writer and former advertising executive’s meteoric rise in the global literary world is a testament of tenacity, given that he faced a whopping 78 letters of rejection from publishers for his first novel, John Crow’s Devil before landing a deal with the New York-based Akashic Books. Prior to his latter-day literary success, James who once co-owned the long defunct ad agency James Hill shared a professional connection with Peters, as he would go on to employ SAINT International models for a number of his then agency’s advertising campaigns.
Rolling with Deiwght Peters airs new episodes on TVJ Sundays at 4:00 pm. and repeats Wednesdays at 1:05 pm.