Have you read any works penned by the 2021 Nobel Prize laureate for literature?
Honouring Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Dear Reader,
Hello and welcome to October. I hope that this month brings you a lot of joy. I too join the countless Nigerians who are celebrating the 62nd anniversary of our nation's independence from British rule.
In our interconnected world, October is a noteworthy month. It is the month when the Swedish Academy announces the yearly winners of the Nobel prizes for different academic fields. I’m a fan of the Nobel prizes for peace and literature. This indicates that new winners in these categories will be announced between 3nd and 10th of October.
For the field of literature this year, the committee cited a winner "that produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction".
Check this to see the 2022 nominees.
This week's journal is published in honour of Abdulrazak Gurnah, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. I was as thrilled as the majority of readers worldwide when Gurnah was named the winner the previous year. A writer of African descent was named the recipient of a prestigious literary award. It is an event worth celebrating.
Unfortunately, I haven't read any of Gurnah's writing prior to 2021. I had a very limited understanding of both world and African literature. This year, I finally had the chance to read two of his books (the last gift and the memory of departure), and I think he deserves to be praised for his excellent storytelling. We should honour more African writers and storytellers.
Meet Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in 1948, Zanzibar (now in Tanzania). The Tanzanian-born British author is well known for his works that explores the impact of colonialism, the feeling of being a refugee, and global displacement.
Gurnah was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, a former British protectorate that is now a part of Tanzania, to a Muslim family of Yemeni heritage. Gurnah was a teenager when a coup in 1964 ousted Zanzibar's Arab leadership, causing political unrest and the persecution of Arab citizens in the years that followed. He immigrated from the island in the late 1960s and settled in Canterbury, England, where he went to university.
Although Gurnah’s first language was Swahili, he wrote in English. He drew from a wide range of literary traditions, such as the surahs of the Qurʾān, Arabic and Persian poetry, and Shakespeare. Gurnah claims that he started writing when he was around 21 years old. In 1987, Memory of Departure, his debut book, was released. His fourth book, Paradise (1994), is regarded as his most important. At the University of Kent, he was a professor of English and postcolonial literature until his retirement.
Why Did Gurnah win the Nobel prize last year?
Gurnah is the first non-white writer from Africa to receive the Nobel Prize in literature in nearly 30 years, as well as the first African in more than ten years. He is only the sixth African writer to win overall. He is also the first Black writer to win since Toni Morrison received the honour in 1993, and he is the second Black African writer to win after the Nigerian dramatist Wole Soyinka, who did so in 1986.
When Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2021, the prize committee cited “his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”
Ironically, a large portion of his writings have centred on authors Salman Rushdie and Ngugi Wa Thiong'O from Kenya, who are frequently mentioned as potential Nobel Prize winners.
Books By Abdulrazak Gurnah.
2020 - Afterlives.
2017 - Gravel Heart.
2011 - The Last Gift.
2007 - The Cambridge Companion to Salman Rushdie.
2005 - Desertion.
2001 - By the Sea.
1996 - Admiring Silence.
1994 - Paradise.
1993 - Essays in African Literature: A Re-evaluation.
1990 - Dottie.
1988 - Pilgrims Way.
1987 - Memory of Departure.
Top Books and Reviews for October.
The books listed below were chosen for October by members of the Jenta Reads Bookclub.
Nonfiction: Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Fiction: Ayi Kwei Armah's The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born is a work of African literature.
I'll discuss my reviews of these books in upcoming publications.
I have read "By the Sea". I will like to read his debut, "Memory of Departure". Well done, Chris.
A thoughtful review to introduce Abdulrazak Gurnah to people who haven't known about him.