Tanzanian writer: Abdulrazak Gurnah receives Nobel Prize for Literature

The Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah receives this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. The Swedish Academy praised his “uncompromising and compassionate portrayal of the consequences of colonialism”.

This year’s Nobel Prize for Literature goes to the Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah. He receives the award “for his uncompromising and compassionate understanding of the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees in the gulf between cultures and continents,” as the Academy’s Permanent Secretary, Mats Malm, said at the announcement.

The 73-year-old was born in Zanzibar and has lived in Great Britain since the late 1960s. He taught at the University of Kent in Canterbury. She reacted enthusiastically to her former professor’s award: “We are absolutely delighted that our former lecturer Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature – that is really inspiring,” tweeted the university.

Most famous novel: “Paradise Lost”

Gurnah has published ten novels and a number of short stories. His best-known novel is “Paradise Lost” from 1994, which is set in colonial East Africa during the First World War and was nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize.

The Nobel Prize for Literature is considered the most prestigious literary award in the world. Like the other traditional Nobel Prizes, the award goes back to the will of the award sponsor and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel. It was awarded for the first time in 1901, then to the French Sully Prudhomme. Since then, almost 120 personalities have received it.

The youngest laureate to date was in 1907 the 41-year-old “Jungle Book” author Rudyard Kipling, the oldest Doris Lessing, who received it in 2007 at the age of 88. The American poet Louise Glück received the award last year.

Observers had already expected that the Swedish Academy would look further afield this year, having honored mainly European and North American authors in recent years. The Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Indian Vikram Seth, the Chinese Liao Yiwu and the Mozambican Mia Couto were named as favorites.

Award ceremony traditionally on December 10th

As in the previous year, all Nobel Prizes are endowed with ten million Swedish crowns (around 980,000 euros) per category. The awards are traditionally presented on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.

The Prize for Literature is the fourth Nobel Prize to be awarded this week. The Nobel Prizes for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry had already been awarded on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday and the Economics Award on Monday, although this is the only category that does not go back to Nobel’s will.