Edited by Rachel Heung
The Nobel Prizes, founded by Alfred Bernhard Nobel, are awarded annually to reward intellectual achievements around the world. They include categories in physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature, and economics (Nobel Prize, 2021). According to Alfred Bernhard Nobel’s will, the Nobel Prize for literature is awarded “to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” (Winners of the Nobel, 2021).
Gurnah grew up in Zanzibar, an autonomous group of islands in the Indian Ocean belonging to Tanzania (Shringarpure, 2021). An uprising in 1964 forced Gurnah to migrate to the United Kingdom. After he moved, he began writing in his diary, about himself and about others. The entries in his diary eventually inspired his many novels about the trauma of colonialism, war and displacement (Abdulrazak Gurnah, n.d.).
He was awarded for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism” (The Nobel Prize, n.d.). The Chair of the literature committee, Anders Olsson, has described Gurnah as “widely recognized as one of the world’s more pre-eminent post-colonial writers,” and “has consistently and with great compassion, penetrated the effects of colonialism in East Africa and its effects on the lives of uprooted and migrating individuals.”
All of Gurnah’s 10 works dive into the themes of exile, identity and belonging. “Memory of Departure,” “Pilgrims Way,” and “Dottie,” these three explore the immigrant experience in Britain. In 1994, “Paradise”, a story about a boy in Tanzania that examines European Colonialism, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. “Afterlives,” his most recent novel, explores the generational effects of German colonialism in Tanzania, and the division of communities it caused.
Though he is described as “one of Africa’s greatest living writers” by Giles Foden (who wrote “The Last King of Scotland”), Gurnah’s novels have not reached great commercial success like other Nobel Prize laureates have. Experts hope that after his Nobel Prize win, he will draw a larger audience and inspire future generations of writers (Abdulrazak Gurnah, n.d.).
Abdulrazak Gurnah is the first black writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since Toni Morrison in 1993, and the first black African writer to win the prize since Wole Soyinka in 1986 (Flood, 2021).
References
Abdulrazak Gurnah Is Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. (n.d.). The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/books/nobel-prize-literature-abdulrazak-
gurnah.html
Cendamo, L. (2021). [Abdulrazak Gurnah has won this year's Nobel Prize in literature.
Gurnah has written 10 novels, including Paradise, which was shortlisted for the Booker
Prize.]. Getty Images. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1043436576/nobel-prize-
literature-2021
Flood, A. (2021, October 7). Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the 2021 Nobel prize in literature. The
Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/07/abdulrazak-gurnah-wins-
the-2021-nobel-prize-in-literature
Nobel Prize. (2021, July 23). Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nobel-Prize
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2021. (n.d.). The Nobel Prize.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2021/summary/
Shringarpure, B. (2021, October 9). Why Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel Prize
for Literature is important. Scroll In. https://scroll.in/article/1007234/why-tanzanian-
writer-abdulrazak-gurnahs-nobel-prize-for-literature-is-important
Winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. (2021, February 19). Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Winners-of-the-Nobel-Prize-for-Literature-1856938
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