Marlon James becomes first Jamaican to win Man Booker Prize

Jamaican author Marlon James on Tuesday won the Man Booker Prize for "A Brief History of Seven Killings", a re-telling of the attempted assassination of musician Bob Marley.

 James, 44, is the first Jamaican to win the award in its 47-year history. One of the world's most prestigious literary awards, the Man Booker Prize carries a £50,000 (67,000 euro, $77,000) prize and winners enjoy a boost in sales and a global readership.

 "Oh my god, oh wow," James said as he took to the podium in dreadlocks and a tuxedo after being announced the winner at the ceremony in London.

 "This is so sort of ridiculous I think I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it didn't happen," he added, as he dedicated the award to his late father.

 Set in James' birthplace of Kingston, the 686-page crime tale traces the rise of the drug trade on the Caribbean island and contains a chapter written in Jamaican patois.

 Based on real events, it recounts how Marley and his entourage were attacked just before a concert in December 1976, referring to the reggae superstar as "The Singer" throughout.

 "It is a crime novel that moves beyond the world of crime and takes us deep into a recent history we know far too little about," said chair of judges Michael Wood after the winner was announced.

 "It moves at a terrific pace and will come to be seen as a classic of our times."

 Wood praised the book's "startling" range of voices and ability to range from early crack gangs in Miami and New York to CIA intervention in Jamaica.

 The New York Times had described the book as "epic in every sense of that word: sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex".

 Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and wife of Prince Charles, presented James with the prize at a glittering ceremony.