African Writer, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Wins 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Zanzibar-born writer “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees between gulfs and continents.”

This was announced on Thursday, 7th October by the Swedish Academy.

Gurnah has published ten novels and a number of short stories. The theme of the refugee’s disruption runs throughout his work.

Some of his works include Memory of Departure. – London : Jonathan Cape, 1987; Pilgrims Way. – London : Jonathan Cape, 1988; Dottie. – London : Jonathan Cape, 1990; Paradise. – London : Hamish Hamilton, 1994; Admiring Silence. – London : Hamish Hamilton, 1996; By the Sea. – London : Bloomsbury, 2001; Desertion. – London : Bloomsbury, 2005; The Last Gift. – London : Bloomsbury, 2011; Gravel Heart. – London : Bloomsbury, 2017; Afterlives. – London : Bloomsbury, 2020.

This win makes Gurnah the second black African after Soyinka (Nigeria; 1986) to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Other past African winners include Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt; 1988), Nadine Gordimer (South Africa; 1991), J. M. Coetzee (South Africa; 2003) and Doris Lessing (UK-Zimbabwe; 2007).

Congrats to him!