My Culture Hits: What Marlon James Is Reading, Watching & Listening To
In Service95 Book Club’s series My Culture Hits, we chat with authors to find out what’s on their cultural radar. This month, we met the multi-award-winning Jamaican writer Marlon James, whose book A Brief History Of Seven Killings celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, a special edition of the book has been released, with a brand new foreword by fellow Booker-winning author Bernardine Evaristo. Here, the author shares his cultural picks, from his current favourite song to the concert he wished he’d attended…
A Song I Have On Repeat… Night Rein by the Pakistani singer, Arooj Aftab. I play her previous album, Vulture Prince, all the time. Vulture Prince is a very mystical, spectral kind of album. It’s like if Sade sung in Arabic and was into trip-hop and Iranian folk music. It’s really addictive, but I only listen to it at night. There are some records I’ve never played in the day, such as Nick Drake, Jessica Brett and John Coltrane. During the day [I] listen to many ’90s alternatives, such as Stereolab and PJ Harvey.
A Piece Of Art I’d Love To Have On My Wall... I don’t want to give the obvious answer: Picasso’s Guernica [1937]. I’m sure everybody says that. It would still be Picasso, but his Les Demoiselles d’Avignon [1907]. There is a lot about modern art that really was just white Europeans doing a version of African art – but Les Demoiselles d’Avignon that was such a break. It’s so muscular and musical that you can feel it dance. So having that on a wall would be great, because I sit down in one position all day typing on a typewriter or computer.
A Cultural Icon I’d Most Like To Meet… It would have been Toni Morrison and Prince, when they were alive. With Prince it’s doubly sad because I live in Minneapolis. I just assumed he’s here, I’m here, so eventually, we should [have] run into each other. But I have met Salman Rushdie. A friend introduced us and said, “This is Marlon James. He wrote a blog about how he’s afraid to meet you,” which is true. I didn’t want my heroes to end up being jerks, but he was really sweet. I’m like everyone else, I most want to meet Beyoncé.
The Movie I Always Recommend… Sean Baker’s Tangerine. I’ve seen this movie four times, and if it’s on tonight, I’ll watch it again. It follows a group of Trans sex workers in LA, trying to find their best friend to stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life, which is marrying somebody she shouldn’t. The film follows them as they go through LA. It is the most hilarious thing when it’s funny, and the saddest thing when it’s sad, and the entire thing was shot using an iPhone.
An Event I Can’t Wait For… I hope Beyoncé has a tour, because I had a free ticket during the Renaissance tour in London and I didn’t take it because I’m an idiot.
The One Thing I Can’t Live Without… My notebooks, because ideas come to me at the worst times. And now I finally have a waterproof pen to write in the shower. I’ve always got one with me, because you never know when the idea will hit you.
The 10th anniversary edition of A Brief History Of Seven Killings is out now
