Jamaican born novelist Marlon James critically acclaimed novel, “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” may soon be coming to the small screen.
HBO has bought the screen rights to the book that was inspired by the 1976 assassination attempt on the life of reggae icon Bob Marley. The novel also touches on the violence and unrest that ruled the Jamaica for decades.
This is the third novel for James, an English professor at Macalester College. His debut was “John Crow’s Devil,” about a Biblical spiritual battle in 1957 Jamaica. His sophomore effort, “The Book of Night Women,” was a slavery-era work often likened to Toni Morrison with splashes of magical realism. “Night Women” was optioned by Samuel Jackson’s production company, an option that was recently renewed.
James will be doing his own adaptation, with the help of screenwriter Eric Roth, who won an Academy Award for “Forrest Gump.”
Recently James won this year’s Anisfield-Wolf fiction prize, which is given to books that deal with issues of race and diversity.
James is currently working on a fantasy novel based on African myths and legends. He describes it as “a Yoruba Game of Thrones.