Abdulrazak Gurnah, born on December 20, 1948, in Zanzibar (Tanzania), is a Tanzanian novelist writing in English and living in the United Kingdom. He taught at the University of Kent until his retirement. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021, he is the author of eleven novels that explore the themes of colonialism, refugees, and identities torn between East Africa and Europe.
His most famous novels are Paradise (1994), shortlisted for the Booker Prize, By the Sea (2001), also shortlisted, and Desertion (2005). His novel Afterlives (2020) received the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Dublin Literary Award.
Major Works
| Year | Original Title | French Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Memory of Departure | — |
| 1988 | Pilgrims Way | — |
| 1990 | Dottie | — |
| 1994 | Paradise | Paradise (Actes Sud / Babel, 1995; Denoël, 2021) |
| 1996 | Admiring Silence | — |
| 2001 | By the Sea | By the Sea (Galaade, 2006; Denoël, 2021) |
| 2005 | Desertion | Desertion (Galaade, 2009; Denoël, 2022) |
| 2011 | The Last Gift | — |
| 2017 | Gravel Heart | — |
| 2020 | Afterlives | Afterlives (Denoël, 2023) |
| 2025 | Theft | — (no French translation) |
Sources
- Abdulrazak Gurnah — French Wikipedia
- Open Library
- Nobel Prize biography