Marlon James to give Marley lecture
Award-winning author Marlon James is slated to deliver the Bob Marley Lecture at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus in St Andrew, on February 12.
The lecture — scheduled for the Undercroft at 6:00 pm — is being hosted by the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit at the UWI. Head of the institute, Dr Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, said getting James for this year’s lecture was a no-brainer.“The Bob Marley Lecture is a commemorative event which celebrates the birth, work and acclaim of Marley and also celebrates the achievement of Jamaican music. The lecture also seeks to showcase the work of scholars and thinkers whose work highlights Jamaican culture, and James fits perfectly as his book has Bob Marley as one of the characters and discusses the events surrounding the attempted assassination, and the ensuing aftermath,” she told the Jamaica Observer.James and his novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, made history in October last year when he became the first Jamaican to walk away with the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction in London.Stanley-Niaah noted that it was very easy to get James to consent to deliver the lecture. She added that in addition to being a UWI alumnus, the timing was right as he was scheduled to be in the country at the time.The Bob Marley Lecture, which is also one of the events to celebrate Reggae Month, was inaugurated in 1997. In the past, it has seen presentations from distinguished Jamaican scholars and Marley’s close associates. Among them are Dr Louis Chude-Sokei, Professors Gordon Rohlehr and Frederick Hickling, Dr Omar Davies, former Marley manager Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, archivist Roger Steffens, and Cindy Breakspeare, former Ms World and mother of the singer’s last child.— Richard Johnson
The lecture — scheduled for the Undercroft at 6:00 pm — is being hosted by the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit at the UWI.
Head of the institute, Dr Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, said getting James for this year’s lecture was a no-brainer.
“The Bob Marley Lecture is a commemorative event which celebrates the birth, work and acclaim of Marley and also celebrates the achievement of Jamaican music. The lecture also seeks to showcase the work of scholars and thinkers whose work highlights Jamaican culture, and James fits perfectly as his book has Bob Marley as one of the characters and discusses the events surrounding the attempted assassination, and the ensuing aftermath,” she told the Jamaica Observer.
James and his novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, made history in October last year when he became the first Jamaican to walk away with the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction in London.
Stanley-Niaah noted that it was very easy to get James to consent to deliver the lecture. She added that in addition to being a UWI alumnus, the timing was right as he was scheduled to be in the country at the time.
The Bob Marley Lecture, which is also one of the events to celebrate Reggae Month, was inaugurated in 1997. In the past, it has seen presentations from distinguished Jamaican scholars and Marley’s close associates. Among them are Dr Louis Chude-Sokei, Professors Gordon Rohlehr and Frederick Hickling, Dr Omar Davies, former Marley manager Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, archivist Roger Steffens, and Cindy Breakspeare, former Ms World and mother of the singer’s last child.
— Richard Johnson