Context

Abdulrazak Gurnah became the fifth African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature on 7^th October 2021.

Key Highlights

• He was awarded for his Contribution "in a non-judgmental sympathy for the effects of colonialism and the fate of the fugitive in the gap between cultures and continents."
• It was taken from his novel famous the premise of 'Paradise' 1994.
• It examines the fate of young African Arabs enlisted for the German occupation in World War I.
• Some of his famous writings: His writing explores the immigrant experience and how exile and loss shape identities and cultures.
  • Memory of Departure (1987)
  • Pilgrims Way (1988)
  • Paradise (1994)
  • By the Sea (2001)
  • Desertion (2005)
  • Gravel Heart (2017)
  • Afterlives (2020)
• His books contain African characters who are trying to embrace segregation, looking at societies and cultures.
• His work draws attention to the extent to which prejudice and discrimination against communities and religions perpetuate oppressive cultures.
• In 1994, he won the Booker Prize for his fiction ‘Paradise’.
• In 2001, He was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for 'Desertion' and 'By the Sea'.