Tanzanian Refugee-Born Writer Abdulrazak Gurnah Wins Nobel Prize in Literature (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has been honored with this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Swedish Academy held a press conference on the 7th (local time) to announce this selection. They also stated the reason for the selection, saying, "Gurnah has shown uncompromising and passionate insight into the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees."

Gurnah was born and raised in 1948 on the island of Zanzibar off the east coast of Africa. He mainly worked in English based in the UK. His journey to study in the UK in 1968 was the beginning. He arrived in England at that time as a refugee. Recently, he served as a professor of English and postcolonial literature at the University of Kent in the UK, publishing 10 novels and numerous short stories.

His personal experience of the confusion he faced as a refugee became a theme in his works. He began writing at the age of 21. Although Swahili was his mother tongue, English soon became his literary tool.

Based on his exploratory activities in East Africa around 1990, his fourth novel, "Paradise," published in 1994, became a turning point for his remarkable development as a writer.

The Academy evaluated, "Paradise is a coming-of-age story and a sad love story where different worlds and belief systems collide."

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