Marlon James was born in Jamaica in 1970. His most recent novel, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first novel in his Dark Star trilogy, was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award. His previous novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, was the winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize, The American Book Award, and The Anisfield-Wolf Book Prize for fiction. He is also the author of the novels John Crow’s Devil and The Book of Night Women, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His next novel, Moon Witch, Spider King, will be released in 2022.