The migration of Marlon James stands out as one of the most consequential departures in modern Caribbean letters. Had he stayed in the Kingston advertising circuit through his late thirties, the world might never have received A Brief History of Seven Killings, the Dark Star fantasy series, or The Disappearers. His physical departure from Jamaica in 2005 and his settling in Minnesota in 2007 did not erase his roots. Instead, that border crossing granted a brilliant literary observer the safety, distance, and freedom to write without fear.
