Marlon James on short list for Man Booker Prize

St. Paul writer and Macalester College professor Marlon James has made the short list for this year's Man Booker Prize. The other finalists include two British writers, two American writers, and a writer from Nigeria.

James' "A Brief History of Seven Killings" is set in his native Jamaica and is about the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. The book, the Star Tribune said in its review, "makes no compromises, but is cruelly and consummately a work of art."

James teaches at Macalester College and has previously won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Award. "A Brief History of Seven Killings" was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Marilynne Robinson's "Lila" won that award, but "Lila" did not make the short list for the Booker.

Nor did previous Booker-winner Anne Enright. The finalists are:

Tom McCarthy, "Satin Island." (UK writer)

Chigozie Obioma, "The Fishermen." (Nigeria)

Hanya Yanagihara, "A Little Life." (US)

Sunjeev Sahota, "The Year of the Runaways." (UK)

Marlon James, "A Brief History of Seven Killings." (Jamaica)