The Disappearers
Novel by Marlon JamesWikipedia
157
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56
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43
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Search complete. 157 mentions across 56 episodes found for "The Disappearers".
Sep 29, 2026
Liberty HardyHOST
Just had a new edition that came out.
Liberty HardyHOST
As well as The Disappearers by Marlon James, which is on everybody's list.
Liberty HardyHOST
The True, True Story of Raja the Gullible and His Mother by Rabi Alamuddin, which just came out in paperback.
Liberty HardyHOST
And the memoir I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan.
Liberty HardyHOST
Yeah, but so I was pretty sure John of John was going to win.
Liberty HardyHOST
Douglas Stewart usually wins whenever he's up for something.
Liberty HardyHOST
But it would be nice to see The Disappearers win.
Liberty HardyHOST
Yeah.
Jason BlitmanHOST
And this is, it's such an interesting comparison that you're making because, speaking of Miwa, I texted her and said, we need to start asking writer, or I said, can we put a moratorium on books over 400 pages? And...
Jason BlitmanHOST
I read Understory right into The Disappearers by Marlon James, right into, and I was about to start American Hug One when I texted her.
Jason BlitmanHOST
And so then I texted her literally yesterday because I didn't want the book to end.
Jason BlitmanHOST
And I said, Miwa, I take it back.
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
They win 50,000 British pounds, which is about 67,000 bones to us here in the US.
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
Um, and I did see, uh, we had a listener request to talk about The Disappearers and John of John-
Jeff O'NealHOST
Yeah
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
... kind of together as these are two Booker finalists, both by people who have won a Booker in the past, and both of them are stories about closeted gay men living in, living on islands.
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
The Disappearers is Jamaica.
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
John of John is set in the Hebrides, uh, off of Scotland.
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
Uh, and like dealing with questions of sexuality in the late '80s, early '90s into the-
Georgina GodwinHOST
He went on to become the first Jamaican writer to win the Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings and followed it with the African fantasy novels Black Leopard, Red Wolf and Moon Witch, Spider King.
Georgina GodwinHOST
Now he's back in Jamaica with The Disappearers, which has received rave reviews and has just been shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize.
Georgina GodwinHOST
The novel begins in Kingston in 1988 with... where eight gay men come together to rehearse John Herbert's Fortune and Men's Eyes, a groundbreaking play about sex, identity and power inside a men's prison.
Georgina GodwinHOST
Their secret rehearsals give them a place to be themselves.
11 MINS LATER
Marlon JamesGUEST
And I'm very fascinated by the Jamaicas beneath the facade of Jamaica, which is kind of where Disappearance also ended up.
Georgina GodwinHOST
You were clearly a very literate child.
Georgina GodwinHOST
Your new book, The Disappearers, is full of fantastic literary references.
Georgina GodwinHOST
And one of those, of course, is James Baldwin.
speaker_2HOST
These are the intensive high pressure tutoring academies prevalent in Korean culture, and they are thrust directly into the hypercompetitive, often brutal world of Korean American academic ambition.
speaker_3GUEST
And standing right alongside Lee in this thematic space is The Disappearers by Marlon James, releasing September 1st.
speaker_2HOST
Also highly anticipated.
speaker_3GUEST
Very.
speaker_2HOST
Which brings us to Marlon James.
speaker_3GUEST
Yes.
speaker_3GUEST
Now, if we pivot to James, he is dissecting a radically different kind of collapse and a much louder, more visceral form of violence in The Disappearers.
speaker_2HOST
Very different volume.
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
Strings has a new album, So Much for Goodbyes, inspired by the death of his mother last year.
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
We'll hear more after a break, and critic at large John Powers reviews the new novel, The Disappearers, which has been described as a masterpiece.
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
I'm David Bianculli, and this is Fresh Air.
Billy StringsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
[singing] The iced-over river's still braided in its chain.
22 MINS LATER
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
year.He spoke with Fresh Air's Sam Briger in twenty twenty-five.
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
Special thanks to Brian McGlynn at Audio Productions in Nashville.
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
Coming up, critic at large John Powers reviews The Disappearers, which has been described as a masterpiece.
David BianculliCORRESPONDENT
This is Fresh Air.
LucyPANELIST
Like, no, no, no.
LucyPANELIST
I don't even think you'll read The Disappearers.
LucyPANELIST
And I don't think you'll read John of John.
LucyPANELIST
Yeah, no, there's absolutely no way.
LucyPANELIST
That does.
Aaron RiceHOST
Colin, are you planning on reading them all?
Colin RiceHOST
I think I might not get to the Disappearers, but the rest I think I can do.
Colin RiceHOST
I bought them, except the Disappearers, because I've gone out with the longer ones.
Jenny EclairHOST
So, Daisy, over to you on books.
DaisyPANELIST
So I finished The Disappearers, which has also been shortlisted for the Booker, which is an incredible book.
DaisyPANELIST
I mean, it is very, what's the word, like... affronting and hard but i what i don't want to do is be like oh it's so violent and it's so difficult because actually it's people's real experience and it is it's great and now i'm reading a book called buckeye by patrick ryan and it's a historical fiction um spans over 40 years in the second half of the 21st century in America, set in a small town in Ohio, which I'm quite enjoying.
DaisyPANELIST
I think something's going to happen.
DaisyPANELIST
such...
DaisyPANELIST
And I did see a criticism that they're all sort of about men, but I would say that, you know, it's not...
DaisyPANELIST
You know, John of John and The Disappearers are LGBTQ stories.
Jenny EclairHOST
Yeah.
Georgina GodwinHOST
It's an interview on Meet the Writers with Marlon James, just been shortlisted and hotly tipped to win the Booker Prize.
Georgina GodwinHOST
And you can hear all about his new book, The Disappearers, that's Sunday at noon.
Georgina GodwinHOST
I'm Georgina Godwin.
Georgina GodwinHOST
Thanks for listening.
Toby LichtigGUEST
We've got M. John Harrison, The End of Everything.
Toby LichtigGUEST
Marlon James, The Disappearers.
Toby LichtigGUEST
Luke Kennard, The Black Bag.
Toby LichtigGUEST
Rebecca Perry, The May We Feed the Kings.
12 MINS LATER
Toby LichtigGUEST
obviously got Elizabeth Strout, who does write in, you know, very kind of plain realist mode.
Toby LichtigGUEST
Yeah, very much so.
Toby LichtigGUEST
And then I was interested, I was interested to see that Marlon James is, you know, again, previous Booker winner, there for The Disappearers.
Toby LichtigGUEST
He's, you know, he's been getting, Quite a few rave reviews.
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