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 ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Multiview available via SaaS for streaming platforms and operators through broadpeak.io, with live demonstrations at IBC2026
Broadpeak , a leader in streaming ...
20/08/2026
Techex, a leading provider of live broadcast infrastructure solutions, has appointed Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer, further strengthening its executive...
20/08/2026
Avid today announced that MediaCity Studios has upgraded its production infrastructure with an enhanced end-to-end Avid production ecosystem, including the dep...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
20/08/2026
It's a new way into the cloud.
GeForce NOW welcomes Firefox support to the cloud, opening up another way to jump into high-performance PC gaming straight ...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
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
