Marlon James Quotes

Jamaica, Writer
November 24, 1970

Marlon James (born 24 November 1970) is a Jamaican writer. He has published three novels: John Crow's Devil (2005), The Book of Night Women (2009), and A Brief History of Seven Killings (2014), winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize. Now living in Minneapolis, James teaches literature at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

I think, for me, there's The Book I Should Write and The Book I Wanted to Write - and they weren't the same book. The Book I Should Write should be realistic, since I studied English Lit. It should be cultural. It should reflect where I am today. The Book I Wanted to Write would probably include flying women, magic, and all of that.

Marlon James
- Women
- Book
- Today
I'm not a writer on a mission, and I'm very suspicious of writers on missions, but I'm also not living a false life.

Marlon James
- Life

What I find, particularly with young writers and readers, is that they don't want complicated feelings.

Marlon James
In 1976, Rastafarians were one of the most violated, persecuted groups in Jamaica. They could be beaten within an inch of their lives, or detained for two years, just for being found in a 'proper' neighbourhood.

Marlon James
Because homophobia is still largely driven by the church, it's legitimised. It's also tied to sexism, because those two are never far apart.

Marlon James
- Church
I come from a very big family from every economic background. Some of the streets I talk about, I've actually walked on because I have family from there. Jamaica has so many contradictions.

Marlon James
- Family
...Love isn’t saying, I love you but calling to say, did you eat

Marlon James
Caribbean literature only has to be true to itself. It doesn't need colonialism or imperialism. It's always been vibrant.

Marlon James
- True
- Literature

I think that’s what Toni Morrison and Alice Walker understand, the secret language of women. That it’s not a secret at all; men just don’t know how to listen.

Marlon James
- Men
- Thinking
- Women
Bad feeling is a country no woman want to visit. So they take good feeling any which way it come. Sometime that good feeling come by taking on a different kind of bad feeling.

Marlon James
- Life
- Good
- Different
In creative writing, I teach that characters arise out of our need for them.

Marlon James
- Writing