Tanzanian novelist Abdul Razak Gurnah has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. The Royal Swedish Academy said the award was given to Razak because of his uncompromising fight against colonialism and his blindness to the plight of refugees.
Abdul Razak Gurnah was born in 1948 on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. But emigrated to England as a refugee in the late 1960s. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Razak started writing at the age of 21. Has written 10 novels and many short stories so far. Razak’s novel ‘Dissolution’, written in 2005, was a sensation at the time.
The 73-year-old is the author of ten novels, including well-known works like ‘Paradise’ and ‘Desertion,’ was awarded 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.14m / £840,000).
After receiving the award, Abdul Razak Gurnah not only expressed gratitude to the academy, but also stated, “It’s just great – it’s such a big prize, and such a huge list of wonderful writers – I’m still taking it in…
It came as such a complete surprise that I couldn’t believe it until I heard it announced.”
In 1987, he published his first novel, ‘Memory of Departure,’ which is about a failed uprising in Africa. His second book, ‘Pilgrims Way,’ was published in 1988, and it explored the multifaceted reality of life in exile. In 1990, he published ‘Dottie,’ a portrait of a Black woman with an immigrant background. Among his other works are ‘Paradise,’ released in 1994, ‘Admiring Silence,’ released in 1996, ‘By the Sea,’ released in 2001, ‘The Last Gift,’ released in 2011, and ‘Gravel Heart,’ released in 2017. His most recent novel, ‘Afterlives,’ was released in 2020 and picks up where ‘Paradise’ leaves off.
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