Marlon James' "A Brief History of Seven Killings," his epic novel of Jamaica, has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. This is the second year that American writers have been eligible for the prestigious award, which originally was restricted to writers in the British Commonwealth.
James lives in the Twin Cities and teaches at Macalester College in St. Paul.
Of 156 nominees, a longlist of 13 titles was chosen. The books (with links to Star Tribune reviews, when available) are:
Bill Clegg (US) - Did You Ever Have a Family
Anne Enright (Ireland) - The Green Road
Marlon James (Jamaica) - A Brief History of Seven Killings
Laila Lalami (US) - The Moor's Account
Tom McCarthy (UK) - Satin Island
Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) - The Fishermen
Andrew O'Hagan (UK) - The Illuminations
Marilynne Robinson (US) - Lila
Anuradha Roy (India) - Sleeping on Jupiter
Sunjeev Sahota (UK) - The Year of the Runaways
Anna Smaill (New Zealand) - The Chimes
Anne Tyler (US) - A Spool of Blue Thread
Hanya Yanagihara (US) - A Little Life
The short list will be announced Sept. 15 and the winner on Oct. 13. The prize is 50,000 British pounds.