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Updated October 7th, 2021 at 18:39 IST

Nobel Prize 2021 in Literature: What did novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah win laurel for?

Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, on October 7, for his insightful literature that explores colonialism, oppression

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
Nobel Prize 2021
IMage: Twitter/@NobelPrize | Image:self
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Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, on October 7, for his insightful literature that explores colonialism, oppression and its aftermath on refugees. As per the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Gurnah deserves the laurel "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents". Gurnah himself has lived a life full of oppression and under refuge owing to the harrowing condition his country faced during the 1960s.

Who is Abdulrazak Gurnah?

Abdulrazak Gurnah is was a professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at Canterbury-based University of Kent in England and has been an English citizen since he arrived as a refugee in the late 1960s. Born in 1948 in Tanzania's Zanzibar island, Gurnah left his family and fled the country at eighteen years old after the minority ethnic groups faced persecution under President Abeid Karume’s regime in 1963. It was only in 1984 when the novelist returned to his country and the experience of being a refugee became a theme in most of his literary works.

Writings of Gurnah

The novelist has ten novels and several short stories to his name, most of them reflecting the theme of refugees. His novel titled  "Paradise" (1994) is considered to be a breakthrough for his career and was nominated for the Booker Prize, reported the Associated Press (AP). Gurnah debuted with his novel titled 'Memory of Departure' (1987) was also about oppression and uprising based in Africa. Interestingly, he started writing when he was just 21-years-old and that too as a refugee and with Swahili being his first language. 

His other novels include 'Pilgrims Way' (1988),  'Dottie' (1990), 'Admiring Silence' (1996) and 'By the Sea' (2001) all revolving around the life of refugees and their struggle through racism and oppression. 

Moved by Gurnah's effective works, chairman of the Nobel Committee for literature, Anders Olsson called him “one of the world’s most prominent post-colonial writers", as per AP. Besides, the Nobel Committee also acknowledged his contribution saying "Gurnah’s dedication to truth and his aversion to simplification are striking. This can make him bleak and uncompromising, at the same time as he follows the fates of individuals with great compassion and unbending commitment".

Image: Twitter/@NobelPrize

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Published October 7th, 2021 at 18:39 IST

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