Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 awarded to novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah: All you need to know

Nobel Prize in Literature 2021: The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to the novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents. 

BREAKING NEWS:
The 2021 #NobelPrize in Literature is awarded to the novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.” pic.twitter.com/zw2LBQSJ4j

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2021

WATCH LIVE: Join us for the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature announcement.

Hear the breaking news first – see the live coverage from 13:00 CEST.

Where are you watching from? #NobelPrize https://t.co/fTvB1qYI3j

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2021

In all his pieces, Gurnah has striven to avoid the ubiquitous nostalgia for a more pristine pre-colonial Africa. His own background is a culturally diversified island in the Indian Ocean, with a history of the slave trade and various forms of oppression under a number of colonial powers – Portuguese, Indian, Arab, German and British – and with trade connections with the entire world. Zanzibar was a cosmopolitan society before globalisation. 

Gurnah’s writing is from his time in exile but pertains to his relationship with the place he had left. His debut novel, Memory of Departure, from 1987, is about a failed uprising and keeps us on the African continent.

His second work, Pilgrims Way from 1988, highlights the multifaceted reality of life in exile. His third novel, Dottie, which was published in 1990, portrays a Black woman of immigrant background growing up in harsh conditions in racially charged 1950’s England, and because of her mother’s silence lacking connection with her own family history.  

Paradise, published in 1994, turned out to be a breakthrough for him. evolved from a research trip to East Africa around 1990. It is a coming of age account and a sad love story in which different worlds and belief systems collide. The novel frustrates the reader’s expectations of a happy ending, or an ending conforming to the genre.

In Abdulrazak Gurnah’s treatment of the refugee experience, the focus is on identity and self-image, apparent not least in Admiring Silence (1996) and By the Sea (2001). Characters find themselves in a hiatus between cultures and continents, between a life that was and life emerging; it is an insecure state that can never be resolved.

Abdulrazak Gurnah consciously breaks with convention, upending the colonial perspective to highlight that of the indigenous populations. Thus, his novel, Desertion, published in 2005, is about a love affair that becomes a blunt contradiction to what he has called “the imperial romance.

The Last Gift in 2011 is related to Pilgrims Way and ends with the death of the ailing refugee. He further developed his theme of a young person's confrontation with evil and uncomprehending surroundings in his next novel, Gravel Heart, published in 2017. The book’s first sentence is a brutal declaration: “My father did not want me.” 

His latest novel, Afterlives, published in 2020, takes up where Paradise ends. An unending exploration driven by intellectual passion is present in all his books.

About the winner

Born in 1948, Abdulrazak Gurnah grew up on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean but arrived in England as a refugee in the 1960’s. 

He has published ten novels and several short stories so far. The theme of the refugee’s disruption runs throughout his work.

Until his recent retirement, Gurnah was serving as the Professor of English and Postcolonial Literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury.

#NobelPrize laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in 1948 and grew up on the island of Zanzibar but arrived in England as a refugee at the end of the 1960’s. Until his recent retirement he was Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2021

Abdulrazak Gurnah has published ten novels and a number of short stories. The theme of the refugee’s disruption runs throughout his work. He began writing as a 21-year-old in English exile, and although Swahili was his first language, English became his literary tool.#NobelPrize

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2021

Works of Abdulrazak Gurnah

Works in English

1- Memory of Departure

2- Pilgrims Way

3- Dottie

4- Paradise

5- Admiring Silence

6- By the Sea

7- Desertion

8- The Last Gift

9- Gravel Heart

10- Afterlives

Works in Swedish

1- Paradiset / översättning av Helena Hansson

2- Den sista gåvan / översättning av Helena Hansson

Works in French

1- Paradis / traduit de l’anglais par Anne-Cécile Padoux

2- Près de la mer / traduit de l’anglais par Sylvette Gleize

3- Adieu Zanzibar / traduit de l’anglais par Sylvette Gleize

Works in German

1- Das verlorene Paradies : Roman / übersetzt von Inge Leipold

2- Donnernde Stille : Roman / übersetzt von Helmuth A. Niederle

3- Ferne Gestade : Roman / übersetzt von Thomas Brückner

4- Schwarz auf Weiss : Roman / übersetzt von Thomas Brückner

5- Die Abtrünnigen : Roman / übersetzt von Stefanie Schaffer-de Vries

About Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize is of the most prestigious awards accorded in six different fields, namely Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. The prize comes with a gold medal, diploma and 10 million Swedish Kronor. 

Sir Alfred Nobel’s will of 1895 instructs the creation of the Nobel Prize to be presented to people who have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind during the preceding year. The prize money comes from a legacy left by Alfred Nobel, the creator of the Prize.

Selection criteria

Initially, eligible candidates are shortlisted by the nominators. These nominators are prominent academics working in the relevant areas and have received invitations from the Nobel Committee to submit names for consideration.

For the Peace Prize, the inquiries are also sent to the government, former Peace Prize laureates, and current or former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The winners of the Nobel Prize are selected by the prize-awarding institutions through a majority vote. 

Read more on Nobel Prize: Nobel Prize: History, Creation, Categories, Selection Process, and Winners

Nobel Prize 2021 schedule

It is to be noted that the Nobel Prizes will be announced from 4 October to 11 October 2021. Check the complete schedule below: 

Related Articles: 

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021 jointly awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian

Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 jointly awarded to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi: All you need to know

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 jointly awarded to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan: All you need to know