Alongside his work in academia, Gurnah is a creative writer and novelist. He is the author of many short stories, essays and 10 novels. [17] Whyte, Philip (2004). "Heritage as Nightmare: The Novels of Abdulrazak Gurnah", in: Commonwealth Essays and Studies 27, no. 1:11–18. In 2006 Gurnah was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. [35] In 2007 he won the RFI Témoin du Monde (Witness of the world) award in France for By the Sea. [36]

Consistent themes run through Gurnah's writing, including exile, displacement, belonging, colonialism and broken promises by the state. Most of his novels tell stories about people living in the developing world, affected by war or crisis, who may not be able to tell their own stories. [20] [21] Lall, Rashmee Roshan (31 October 2021). "Abdulrazak Gurnah: the truth-teller's tale". openDemocracy . Retrieved 31 October 2021.a b c Alter, Alexandra (5 November 2021). "Why one Nobel Laureate is struggling to sell books in America". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Kaigai, Ezekiel Kimani (April 2014) "Encountering Strange Lands: Migrant Texture in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Fiction". Stellenbosch University. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021. Gurnah, who was in the kitchen when he was informed of his win, said that he believed it was a wind-up.

a b c d e "Nobel Literature Prize 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah named winner". BBC News. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 . Retrieved 9 October 2021.Mars-Jones, Adam (15 May 2005). "It was all going so well". The Observer. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 . Retrieved 7 October 2021. Gurnah's 1994 novel Paradise was shortlisted for the Booker, the Whitbread and the Writers' Guild Prizes as well as the ALOA Prize for the best Danish translation. [33] His novel By the Sea (2001) was longlisted for the Booker and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, [33] while Desertion (2005) was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. [33] [34] a b Kohler, Sophy (4 May 2017). " 'The spice of life': trade, storytelling and movement in Paradise and By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah". Social Dynamics. 43 (2): 274–285. doi: 10.1080/02533952.2017.1364471. ISSN 0253-3952. S2CID 149236009. I am honoured to be awarded this prize and to join the writers who have preceded me on this list. It is overwhelming and I am so proud.” Abdulrazak Gurnah FRSL (born 20 December 1948) is a Tanzanian-born British novelist and academic. He was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee during the Zanzibar Revolution. [1] His novels include Paradise (1994), which was shortlisted for both the Booker and the Whitbread Prize; By the Sea (2001), which was longlisted for the Booker and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and Desertion (2005), shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Dabashi, Hamid (12 October 2021). "This one for Africa: The Nobel Prize ennobles itself". Al Jazeera . Retrieved 2 November 2021. AbdulrazakGurnah (born 1948, Zanzibar (now in Tanzania)) Tanzanian-born British author known for his novels about the effects of colonialism, the refugee experience, and displacement in the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021.Lavery, Charné (May 2013). "White-washed Minarets and Slimy Gutters: Abdulrazak Gurnah, Narrative Form and Indian Ocean Space". English Studies in Africa. 56 (1): 117–127. doi: 10.1080/00138398.2013.780686. ISSN 0013-8398. S2CID 143927840. One of my favourites is Gurnah’s latest novel ‘Afterlives’ (2020), which has many affinities with his fourth, breakthrough novel, ‘Paradise’ (1994), and takes place during the German colonisation of East Africa in the beginning of the 20th century and thereafter. In both cases Gurnah gives us a lucid history lesson in the form of a captivating story of individual lives. His way of doing this is to filter the brutality of events through young and vulnerable protagonists with limited consciousness of reality. In the breaking up of Arab hegemony in the coastal region of East Africa we follow the dramatic fates of the orphaned youngsters Ilyas, Afiya and Hamza. Ilyas escapes his servitude under an Arab slave holder only to be kidnapped by the German forces as one of their native soldiers (askaris). Even Hamza is owned by a merchant in a caravan only to volunteer as a German askari, where he becomes dependent on an officer who sexually exploits him. The capricious winds of history rule, and the fates of the trio are very different. Gurnah’s style is wonderfully clear and nuanced, but he can also be sarcastic and hilarious in a deadpan way. One of the finest moments in this novel is the delicately written love story of Hamza and Ilyas’ sister Afyia, a variation on Pyramus and Thisbe. The last word however must be terrible, when the Nazi engagement of Ilyas is revealed, and the denouement of ‘Afterlives’ is just as unexpected as it is alarming. If Hamza is saved, Ilyas is not. What happens to him I will let the reader find out. King, Bruce (2006). "Abdulrazak Gurnah and Hanif Kureishi: Failed Revolutions". In Acheson, James; Ross, Sarah C.E. (eds.). The Contemporary British Novel Since 1980. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp.85–94. doi: 10.1007/978-1-349-73717-8_8. ISBN 978-1-349-73717-8. OCLC 1104713636.

Kaigai, Kimani (May 2013). "At the Margins: Silences in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Admiring Silence and The Last Gift". English Studies in Africa. 56 (1): 128–140. doi: 10.1080/00138398.2013.780688. ISSN 0013-8398. S2CID 143867462. Abdulrazak Gurnah". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020 . Retrieved 7 October 2021.

On the self-image of the refugee

a b c d e f g Alter, Alexandra; Marshall, Alex (7 October 2021). "Abdulrazak Gurnah Is Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 . Retrieved 9 October 2021. a b c d e Flood, Alison (7 October 2021). "Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the 2021 Nobel prize in literature". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 . Retrieved 7 October 2021.