The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday. Born in Tanzania but living in the United Kingdom, he is the first black author to receive the most prestigious literary awards since 1993.
The author, known in particular for his novel Paradise was awarded for his “empathetic and uncompromising account of the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees caught between cultures and continents”,
according to the jury.
A literary work that moves away from “stereotypical descriptions”
Born in 1948 in Zanzibar, which he fled in 1968 at a time when the Muslim minority was being persecuted, Abdulrazak Gurnah has published ten books since 1987. His work moves away from “stereotypical descriptions and opens our gaze to a Culturally diverse East Africa which is poorly known in many parts of the world, ”the jury explained.
Last year, the American poet Louise Glück was crowned with the most famous literary award for her work “of austere beauty”. This year, much speculation has revolved around the Academy’s promise to expand its geographic horizons. Even if the president of the Nobel committee Anders Olsson had taken care to reaffirm at the beginning of the week that “literary merit” remained “the absolute and unique criterion”.
The prize is historically very Western and since 2012 and the Chinese Mo Yan, only Europeans or North Americans had been crowned. Of the 117 previous laureates in literature since the creation of the prizes in 1901, 95, or more than 80% are Europeans or North Americans. With the 2021 prize, there are 102 men on the prize list for 16 women.
Secret deliberations for 50 years
Of the approximately 200 to 300 applications submitted year in and year out to the Academy, five are selected before the summer. The members of the jury are responsible for reading them carefully and discreetly before the final choice shortly before the announcement. The deliberations remain secret for 50 years.
After science earlier this week, the Nobel season continues Friday in Oslo with peace, to end Monday with the economy.