Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Marlon James signs copies of his book 'John Crow's Devil', at the Red Bones Blues Cafe, in Kingston last December. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
LAST YEAR, the Jamaican literary scene welcomed a new star and it came on the wings of a carrion crow that feasted on depravity and redemption.
Marlon James' debut novel, John Crow's Devil, has moved him toward celebrity status in the world of literati.
Published by independent publishers Akashic Books, the spellbinding tale of two preachers who battle for the soul of the village of Gibbeah is a vibrant examination of power and oppression, sexual obsession and the results of its repression.
FICTIONAL VILLAGE
The village is fictional, but the power with which James infuses his language brings it and its characters to life as he creates an electric tale involving fire-breathing preachers and the women who love them. Religion, obeah, lust, love and loss fester in a quintessential though refreshing battle of good versus evil.
John Crow's Devil launched locally to an enthusiastic house at Redbones Blues Café in Kingston last December, after an extensive tour of the United States. The audience at the local launch gobbled the available copies.
The success of the book locally followed on the heels of rave reviews in the United States. The novel was heralded by numerous critics and was selected for the Editor's Choice in the New York Times Book Review.
NOMINATED
The book is a nominee for the First Fiction category of the 26th Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Recently, it had been among the works short-listed for the 2006 Commonwealth Writer's Prize.
Kingston-born James is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Mona with a Bachelors degree in Literatures in English and is one of the first participants in the Calabash International Literary Festival's poetry and fiction workshops.
James also attended graduate school at Wilkes' University in Pennslyvania from which he is the first recipient of the Norris Mailer Fellowship, given to a creative writing student with artistic promise.
John Crow's Devil was printed in hardback, the first in this format that Akashic has produced in two years. The company's Johnny Temple noted that the book deserves such treatment.
With John Crow's Devil, Marlon James' career has certainly taken flight.
