Salmon Rushdie described him as "one of the most important voices of his literary generation" and "an author who must be read". Booker Prize winner Marlon James speaks to Eve Jackson about his trilogy dubbed the "African Game of Thrones". The first book of the epic fantasy series the Dark Star trilogy, "Black Leopard, Red Wolf", has been translated into French and more than 20 other languages. It's set in ancient Africa and explores personal identity, the pursuit of truth and the limits of power. The book also reclaims an Africa where gender fluidity was accepted in the time before colonialisation.
They also discuss how his first novel "John Crow's Devil" was rejected more than 70 times, causing him to burn the manuscript; the life-changing effect of winning the Booker Prize for his third novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings"; and how the all-white cast of "The Hobbit" triggered him into writing an epic story set in Africa.
