Abdulrazak Gurnah

Abdulrazak Gurnah
Gurnah in September 2024
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Born	20 12, 1948
Birthplace	Sultanate of Zanzibar (present-day Tanzania)
Nationality	Tanzanian-British
Occupation	Novelist, academic
Known for	Novels exploring colonialism, exile, and refugee experience
Education	University of Kent (MA, PhD)
Awards	Nobel Prize in Literature (2021)

Abdulrazak Gurnah (born 20 December 1948) is a Tanzanian-born novelist and academic whose fiction has explored the experiences of displacement, colonialism, and cultural identity across the Indian Ocean world and East Africa. Born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, Gurnah left his homeland as a refugee during the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964, settling in England where he would build a distinguished literary and scholarly career. Writing in English, he has published eleven novels, including Paradise (1994), which was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize; By the Sea (2001), longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and Afterlives (2020), a multi-generational account of life under German colonial rule in East Africa. In 2021, Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents." He is Emeritus Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent and, since September 2024, holds the position of Arts Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi. His most recent novel, Theft (2025), continues his exploration of identity and coming-of-age in postcolonial Tanzania.

Early Life

Abdulrazak Gurnah was born on 20 December 1948 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, an island archipelago off the coast of East Africa that was then a British protectorate. Gurnah is of Yemeni descent, reflecting the centuries-old connections between the Arabian Peninsula and the Swahili coast that have shaped the cultural, linguistic, and commercial life of Zanzibar and the broader Indian Ocean region.

Zanzibar gained independence from Britain in December 1963, but within a month the new government was overthrown in the Zanzibar Revolution of January 1964. The revolution, led by the Afro-Shirazi Party, resulted in the overthrow of the Arab-dominated sultanate and was followed by widespread violence targeting the island's Arab and South Asian communities. Thousands were killed or imprisoned, and many more fled the island as refugees. The young Gurnah was among those who left Zanzibar during this period of upheaval. He arrived in England in the late 1960s as a refugee, an experience of exile and displacement that would profoundly inform the themes and concerns of his literary work for decades to come.

The experience of leaving Zanzibar and arriving in a foreign country as a young man left an indelible mark on Gurnah. The United Kingdom for UNHCR has described him as a "Tanzanian refugee" whose life and work demonstrate someone "shaped but not defined by circumstances." The cultural dislocation of moving from a Swahili-speaking, Islamic society to England, the memory of the revolution and its aftermath, and the broader histories of colonialism in East Africa became central preoccupations in his fiction. Though English was not his first language, it became his primary literary language, and his novels are noted for their nuanced engagement with questions of language, belonging, and identity that arise from the migrant and refugee experience.

Education

Gurnah pursued his higher education in England. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Canterbury Christ Church University. He subsequently attended the University of Kent, where he completed both a Master of Arts degree and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). His doctoral research focused on postcolonial literature, a field in which he would go on to become a prominent scholar and teacher. The University of Kent, located in Canterbury, became Gurnah's institutional home for much of his academic career, and his scholarly work there encompassed the study of postcolonial writing, with particular attention to literatures from Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia.

Career

Early Literary Work

Gurnah began writing fiction in the 1980s. His early novels drew on his experiences of exile and his memories of Zanzibar. Writing in English, he developed a literary style characterized by careful, understated prose and a deep engagement with the histories and cultures of East Africa and the Indian Ocean world. His works frequently examine the interplay between personal narratives and larger historical forces, particularly colonialism, revolution, and migration.

Paradise and International Recognition

Gurnah achieved international recognition with his fourth novel, Paradise, published in 1994. Set in East Africa in the early twentieth century during the period of German colonial rule, the novel follows a young boy named Yusuf who is given by his father to a merchant as a form of debt bondage. The narrative draws on the traditions of Arab and Swahili storytelling while also invoking the structure of European literary forms. Paradise was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize, bringing Gurnah to the attention of a wide international readership and establishing him as one of the foremost novelists writing about East Africa and the legacy of colonialism.

Subsequent Novels

Following Paradise, Gurnah continued to produce novels that explored themes of displacement, identity, and the aftermath of colonialism. By the Sea (2001) tells the story of a Zanzibari asylum seeker arriving in England and the complex web of memory, storytelling, and colonial history that connects him to another exile. The novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, further consolidating Gurnah's reputation as a major literary voice.

Desertion (2005) is set partly in early twentieth-century Zanzibar and partly in 1960s East Africa, tracing the consequences of a love affair between an Englishman and a local woman across generations. The novel was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Gurnah's other novels include Memory of Departure (1987), Pilgrims Way (1988), Dottie (1990), Admiring Silence (1996), The Last Gift (2011), and Gravel Heart (2017). Across this body of work, Gurnah returned consistently to the themes that define his literary project: the experience of refugees and migrants, the cultural and psychological consequences of colonialism, and the ways in which individuals navigate between different cultures and histories.

Afterlives

In 2020, Gurnah published Afterlives, a sweeping novel set in German-controlled East Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The novel follows the intertwined lives of several characters whose fates are shaped by colonial violence, forced conscription, and the disruption of traditional communities. Afterlives was praised by critics for its rich historical detail and its compassionate portrayal of ordinary people caught up in the machinery of empire. The Guardian reviewed the novel favorably, noting its depth of engagement with the lived experience of colonialism.

Theft

Gurnah's eleventh novel, Theft, was published in 2025. Set in 1980s Tanzania, the novel follows three young characters as they navigate questions of identity, destiny, and coming-of-age amid the broader forces of globalization and postcolonial change. NPR described the novel as "a quieter, more intimate look" compared to the multi-generational sweep of Afterlives, focusing on "everyday, ordinary" things that drive its characters' lives. The New York Times described the novel as one in which "three characters navigate messy relationships in 1980s Tanzania," set against the backdrop of a revolution that "freed their country, and upended their lives." The Wall Street Journal reviewed the novel, noting its depiction of a Tanzanian servant named Badar and the social dynamics of postcolonial East Africa. The Guardian reviewed the audiobook edition, describing the work as a "coming-of-age saga" in which "three young people step boldly into their adult lives" in an "elegantly narrated novel from the Nobel laureate." PEN America noted that the novel "follows the interwoven stories of three young adults navigating questions of identity, destiny, and coming-of-age amid the globalizing" forces reshaping East Africa.

Academic Career

Alongside his literary work, Gurnah pursued a long academic career at the University of Kent, where he taught English and postcolonial literatures. He rose to the rank of Professor and served as a leading figure in the study of postcolonial writing, with particular expertise in African, Caribbean, and South Asian literatures. He edited two volumes of Essays on African Writing and contributed extensively to academic journals and edited collections on topics related to postcolonial literature and theory.

After his retirement from full-time teaching, Gurnah was granted the title of Emeritus Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent. On 1 September 2024, he took up a new appointment as Arts Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi, continuing his engagement with academic life and literary culture in an international context.

In June 2025, Gurnah delivered the 32nd Staudinger Lecture at the University of Freiburg's Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, speaking on the theme of "Living Together." In his lecture, Gurnah reflected on the intersection of literature and the natural sciences, and on the role of storytelling in fostering understanding across cultural divides.

Personal Life

Gurnah has lived in England since arriving as a refugee in the late 1960s. He settled in Canterbury, Kent, where the University of Kent is located, and where he spent the majority of his academic career. While much of his personal life has remained private, his public statements and fiction make clear the enduring influence of his Zanzibari upbringing and his experience of exile. The United Kingdom for UNHCR has profiled Gurnah as a figure whose refugee experience shaped but did not define his life and career.

A 2025 article in The Conversation recounted an attempt to find traces of Gurnah's presence in Zanzibar, noting that the writer's fame had not yet translated into prominent cultural recognition in his hometown. The author found copies of Gurnah's novels in a souvenir shop that primarily sold skin-care products, illustrating a gap between the writer's international stature and his visibility in his birthplace.

Recognition

Nobel Prize in Literature

On 7 October 2021, the Swedish Academy announced that Abdulrazak Gurnah had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Academy cited Gurnah "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents." Gurnah was the first Black African writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature since Wole Soyinka in 1986, and only the fifth African-born writer to receive the prize. The award brought renewed international attention to his body of work and prompted new editions and translations of his novels around the world.

Other Awards and Honors

Prior to the Nobel Prize, Gurnah had received significant recognition within the literary world. Paradise (1994) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize. By the Sea (2001) was longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Desertion (2005) was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Gurnah has been invited to deliver lectures and participate in literary events at institutions around the world. His 2025 Staudinger Lecture at the University of Freiburg was a notable example of his engagement with interdisciplinary academic audiences. He has also been profiled by organizations such as PEN America and the United Kingdom for UNHCR, reflecting the breadth of his public profile beyond the literary world.

Legacy

Abdulrazak Gurnah's literary output has contributed to a richer understanding of East African history and the experience of displacement in the modern world. His novels have brought the histories of Zanzibar, German East Africa, and the Indian Ocean littoral to a global readership, illuminating narratives that had been marginal in anglophone literature. The Nobel Committee's recognition of his work drew particular attention to the literary representation of refugee experiences and the lasting consequences of colonialism, themes that remain central to contemporary debates about migration, identity, and cultural belonging.

As an academic, Gurnah played an important role in the development of postcolonial literary studies in British universities. His scholarly work on African, Caribbean, and South Asian literatures helped to shape the field, and his teaching at the University of Kent influenced generations of students and researchers. His appointment to New York University Abu Dhabi in 2024 extended this scholarly engagement to a new institutional and geographic context.

The relationship between Gurnah and his birthplace of Zanzibar remains complex. Despite his international fame, his presence in the cultural landscape of Zanzibar itself has been described as limited. A 2025 investigation by The Conversation found that, in his hometown, evidence of the Nobel laureate's literary career was scarce, with his novels available only in a souvenir shop among other goods. This gap between global recognition and local visibility reflects broader tensions in postcolonial literary culture and underscores the themes of exile and belonging that run through Gurnah's fiction.

Gurnah's continued productivity—demonstrated by the publication of Theft in 2025, his eleventh novel—indicates that his literary project remains ongoing. Reviews of Theft have noted its intimate scale and its focus on the textures of everyday life in postcolonial Tanzania, suggesting a writer still engaged with the questions that have animated his career.