Novelist, Abdul-Razak Gurnah, wins 2021 Nobel prize in Literature

Tanzanian-born English novelist, Abdul-Razak Gurnah has emerged winner of the 2021 Nobel prize in Literature.

Gurnah revealed that he was “surprised and humbled” to be awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.14m / £840,000).

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Gurnah, who grew up on one of the islands of Zanzibar and arrived in England as a refugee in the 1960s, has published 10 novels as well as a number of short stories.

No black African writer has won the prize since Nigerian novelist Wole Soyinka in 1986. Gurnah is the first Tanzanian writer to receive the honour.

Gurnah’s fourth novel, Paradise, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994.

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