Abdulrazak Gurnah, first black-African since Soyinka, wins 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

Tanzanian writer and essayist Abdulrazak Gurnah has been awarded the 2021 Nobel Literature Prize “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents,” The Swedish Academy said in an announcement.

Gurnah is the first black-African author to win the prestigious prize since Wole Soyinka in 1986 and the third writer of black-African descent after Soyinka and Toni Morrison, who was granted the award in 1993.

The famed author stated that this award signifies that issues like displacement and immigration as byproducts of colonialism would be further exposed and discussed. Gurnah himself has experienced such hardships. He has been living in the UK since he was 18 years old.

Gurnah was born in Zanzibar in 1948 and has lived in both the UK and Nigeria. His most recognized work is the novel titled “Paradise,” which was nominated for a Booker Prize in 1994. Narrating the story of a Tanzanian child in the early 20th Century, “Paradise” is considered a turning point in his career as a writer.

Abdulrazak Gurnah is known for being direct and honest in his humane message. His works uncover the untold story of the East African people, portraying lives and personalities different from earlier western stereotypes.

The characters in his works are often divided between a world they live in but in which they do not fit and the world that lives within them, staying conflicted throughout as they explore their reality.

Gurnah has written a number of novels, the most famous of which include his first novel Paradise (1994), By the Sea (2001), and Desertion (2005).

The first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French writer Sully Prudhomme in 1901. It has been awarded 114 times to 118 Nobel Prize laureates so far. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma, and a monetary prize worth nearly 1 million USD.