Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has said he was “surprised and humbled” to be awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Swedish Academy praised Gurnah for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism”.
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.14m / £840,000).
Gurnah, 73, is the author of 10 novels, including Paradise and Desertion.
The Nobel Prizes, which have been awarded since 1901, recognise achievement in literature, science, peace and latterly economics.
Born in Zanzibar in 1948, Gurnah arrived in England as a refugee in the late 1960s.
He was Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent, Canterbury, until his recent retirement, BBC reported.
Gurnah is the first black African author to have won the award since Wole Soyinka in 1986.
He said his award would mean issues such as the refugee crisis and colonialism, which he has experienced, will be “discussed”.
I dedicate this Nobel Prize to Africa and Africans and to all my readers. Thanks!
— Abdulrazak Gurnah (@GurnahAuthor) October 7, 2021
“These are things that are with us every day. People are dying, people are being hurt around the world – we must deal with these issues in the most kind way,” he said.
Past winners have included novelists such as Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, poets such as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky and Rabindranath Tagore, and playwrights including Harold Pinter and Eugene O’Neill.
Former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill won for his memoirs, Bertrand Russell for his philosophy and Bob Dylan for his lyrics.
Last year’s award was won by American poet Louise Gluck.
