Abdulrazak Gurnia has inadvertently broken Wole Soyinka’s record as the only African to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature when he secured the same for 2021. The novelist from Zanzibar won the award for his riveting piece on the effect of colonialism in Africa.
Gurnah served as the Professor of English and Postcolonial Literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury until his recent retirement. He is also the proud author of 10 novels including Afterlives, Memory of Departure, and Paradise which was nominated for the 1994 Booker Prize.
According to Gurnah, he wanted to make sure that the context in which colonialism and war took place was clearly understood.
“The thing that motivated the whole experience of writing for me was this idea of losing your place in the world.”
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Gurnah, who was reportedly not very popular in and out of the UK and has suddenly been brought to the spotlight, disclosed that he did not believe he won until he watched the announcement. He wholeheartedly thanked the Swedish Academy for the recognition.