
Famous at 70: Meet African Nobel winning writer Abdulrazak GurnahA British-Tanzanian Nobel-winning writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, has suddenly become famous in his 70s spending his lifetime defying colonialism
by Agence France-Presse
22-06-2022 11:07
in Books
Tanzanian-born British novelist, academic and Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah, poses during a photo session in Paris on 16 June, 2022 Photo: JOEL SAGET / AFP
Abdulrazak Gurnah, the British-Tanzanian Nobel-winning writer, has spent a lifetime confronting colonialism and racial politics and welcomes a new generation keeping these issues alive.
--
The author has suddenly become a famous name in his 70s after winning last year's Nobel Prize for Literature.
Drawing on the brutal realities of colonialism in Africa and the dislocation and poverty he experienced when he came to England, novels such as Paradise, Desertion and Gravel Heart explore racism, exile and the legacy of European domination.
Gurnah says his generation had a particularly complex relationship with colonialism.
--
ALSO READ: Bill Cosby found guilty of sexually abusing teen in 1970s
AFRICAN NOBEL WINNING WRITER For people of my father's generation, colonialism was something they saw arriving, implanting itself, dominating. But they didn't lose a sense of who they were,
he told AFP during a trip to Paris. (My generation) couldn't just brush it off. We could see that in fact much has been done progress in medicine, technology, engineering we are more urgently forced to try and engage and understand that relationship.
He welcomes the recent wave of anti-colonial protests, often focused on statues and other symbols of the era.
I don't care if they topple statues or not. But the symbolism is good,
he said. And it provokes all these right-wingers to come out and start crying and complaining. Good. It means the issue is kept alive.
A difficult time' Gurnah grew up in Zanzibar, which became part of Tanzania after gaining independence from Britain in 1963.
A year later, a Communist-inspired revolution led to problems for Gurnah's Arab-origin family.
--
His father came from a Yemeni family and his uncle was a wealthy trader of fish, dates and spices.
They became targets when the Communists overthrew Zanzibar's sultan and his mainly Arab government.
It was a difficult time for everybody, particularly people who the government considered to be foreigners. It was part of a racialisation process, quite unjust,
Gurnah recalled. His family supported the Zanzibar Nationalist Party, which had tried to create a shared identity rather than focus on separate ethnicities.
We were saying: we're Zanzibaris we're not Indians, Arabs, Africans. We don't want to be racialised,
he said. Of course the racial politics won, but I still want to adhere to: I'm a Zanzibari, I'm not a Yemeni, this or that, or an African.
That debate found strange echoes after his Nobel victory, with Arabs seeking to claim him as one of their own.
The Arabs celebrated me as a Yemeni writer. I said well, fine, if you want. That's not how I feel, but it makes everybody happy, so why not?
ALSO READ: We are human beings': Transgender rugby player says ban is punishment
African literature' Gurnah fled to Britain and spent years in poverty before managing to educate himself into a career as an academic and author.
With South Africa's Damon Galgut winning the Booker Prize and Senegal's Mohamed Mbougar Sarr becoming the first sub-Saharan African to win France's Prix Goncourt, 2021 proved to be a landmark year for African literature.
Gurnah knows the label of African literature is far too vague since it encompasses such a vast and diverse continent, but he takes a relaxed attitude.
Those who use the term often already have a conception of African literature, They might exclude white South Africans, or North Africans, or Ethiopians and Somalis.
he said. (But) if we use it symbolically, it's OK, I can live with that and I don't want to argue with anybody.
Agence France-Presse
POLL: What is your most appealing feature of Hollywoodbets Durban July? VOTE NOW!
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
24/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
24/06/2026
Streaming sets record high of 46.6% of ad supported TV viewing, driven by Super Bowl and Winter Olympics; overall share of ad supported TV remains steady
NEW Y...
24/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/06/2026
RE:Vision Effects Announces Twixtor Standalone v 8.1 and a Sale!
Brie Clayton June 24, 2026
0 Comments
Twixtor v8.1 Standalone adds support for variab...
24/06/2026
Dreamtek Uses Full Blackmagic Workflow for Vercel Next JS Event
Brie Clayton June 24, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic cameras, switchers, routers, recorder...
24/06/2026
Chyron LIVE Unveils New Features: Haivision StreamHub Integration, SCTE-35 Ad In...
24/06/2026
Mapping an Education How composer Chloe Clarke Smith navigated her Boston Conservatory experience and brought new meaning to her work
June 24, 2026
By
Sara...
24/06/2026
The Next Act Dean Krisha Marcano's vision for a connected Theater Division, and the fund making it possible
June 24, 2026
Photo by Eric Antoniou
The Or...
24/06/2026
Announcing STAGES Magazine 2026 Marking a decade since Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music joined forces, this issue spotlights some of the groun...
24/06/2026
In Brazil's TV 3.0 Trials, Appear's X5 is transporting live signals from Bras lia to S o Paulo over the public internet using secure, reliable next-gene...
24/06/2026
Melbourne, Australia - 24 June 2026: Mediaproxy, the global standard for software-based IP compliance monitoring and multiviewing solutions, has named Heartland...
24/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/06/2026
First Rush Brings SDI Multicam ProRes Recording to Apple Silicon Macs
Brie Clayton June 23, 2026
0 Comments
First Rush is a native macOS application d...
24/06/2026
Vertical Drama Beneath Crimson Sails Created with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 23, 2026
0 Comments
Thunder Child Productions relies on cameras&...
24/06/2026
Comscore Announces Partnership with Amazon DSP to Expand Content Addressability ...
24/06/2026
From Cork to Limerick to Earagail:
RT is supporting 21 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this July
RT Supporting the Arts is delighted to spotlight...
23/06/2026
When we began planning our transition from an SDI-based infrastructure to a new ...
23/06/2026
Imagine Communications has announced the appointment of Greg Garmon as Senior Vice President, Americas Video Sales. Garmon will oversee account growth and busin...
23/06/2026
Snap has promoted Emma Wakely to Head of Sports and Media Partnerships, Americas, succeeding Anmol Malhotra, who has been elevated to Global Head of Content and...
23/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air MI New York's Major League Cr...
23/06/2026
The Universal Talent Identifier (HAND) has issued HAND IDs to 34 top projected prospects in the 2026 NBA Draft class, including AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, and...
23/06/2026
World Boxing has announced the launch of World Boxing TV, a subscription-based streaming platform built on the Joymo platform, offering live events, on-demand c...
23/06/2026
FloSports will stream 32 off-road motorcycle racing events on FloRacing, includi...
23/06/2026
SES has announced the expansion of its ASTRA TV platform in Spain with the addition of 14 regional channels in HD and UHD quality and the launch of new hybrid s...
23/06/2026
Appear ASA has announced its role in Rede Legislativa de R dio e TV's contri...
23/06/2026
LTN has announced that PBS has selected it as its IP video partner to modernize content distribution and contribution across more than 330 public television sta...
23/06/2026
Ease Live has announced that its graphics overlay platform is powering an interactive fan experience on Rally.TV, the official streaming platform of the FIA Wor...
23/06/2026
Chyron has announced updates to Chyron LIVE, its cloud-native live production pl...
23/06/2026
ESPN has announced ESPN Fan House, a fan engagement hub powered by Flowcode, launching in August ahead of the 2026 college football season. Publicis Sports will...
23/06/2026
The city's solid position in broadcast, entertainment, and sports attracted the major microphone manufacturer
Sennheiser Group is moving its Americas Regio...
23/06/2026
128 channels of signal routing & DSP
Announced just before the NAMM Show 2026, Violet Audio's latest digital audio matrix offers 128 channels of signal ...
23/06/2026
Latest Current expansion created by EPROM
Minimal Audio have just launched the latest Current Expansion, Memory Rites. Designed in collaboration with renown...
23/06/2026
Popular hardware EQ gets official plug-in emulation
Undertone Audio have just launched a new plug-in that brings one of their most popular hardware designs ...
23/06/2026
December 7, 2022
Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the multi-award-winning develope...
23/06/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
PlayBox Neo appoints Besco as Channel Reseller to establish a firm foothold in Asia Pacific's thriving high-tech export-driven economic boom
PlayBox Neo, t...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...
23/06/2026
LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...
23/06/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...
23/06/2026
DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...