Tanzanian columnist Abdulrazak Gurnah said he was surprised and horrified to receive the 2021 Nobel Prize.

The Swedish Academy praised Gurnah for “relentless acceptance and empathy under the political influence”. The award is received by the University of Sweden and is worth 10 million Swedish kronor ($ 1.14 million / £ 840,000). Gurnah, 73, is the author of ten newspapers, including Paradise and Exodus.

He said he was pleased with the academy, adding, “It was fantastic – it was just a great award, with a huge roster of writers – I welcome that. “It’s great that I have to wait to hear his announcement before I accept.”

‘Commitment to the Truth’

Paradise, published in 1994, tells the story of a boy who grew up in Tanzania in the early 20th century and was nominated for a Booker Prize, with his award marked as a writer. The Nobel Literature Committee said that “Abdulrazak Gurnah is committed to the truth and hatred he does to make things easier.” “His novel goes backward through unparalleled interpretations and opened our eyes to the cultural diversity of East Africa that many others in the world do not know.”

“[His] writings by him are found in a rift between culture and the continent, between the first years of life and the emerging world; it is a situation of insecurity that cannot be resolved.” Born in Zanzibar in 1948, Gurnah arrived in the UK as a refugee in the late 1960s. He was Professor of English in Post-Colonial Literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury, until his recent retirement.

Gurnah was the first black writer to receive this award from Wole Soyinka in 1986. He said that his award would address issues such as refugee consideration and political issues, which he had. He said, “These are things we do every day.

“More than cruelty”

“I came to England when, as an asylum seeker, these problems were not the same: many people were scared as they fled the country. “The world is worse than it was in the 1960s, so now there is a big problem in a safe country, they are attracting a lot of people.”

In an interview in 2016, when asked if he would call himself a “postcolonial and/or international author”, Gurnah replied: “I will not use these words. I will not call myself a writer of any kind. “Seriously, I’m not sure if I’d call myself anything other than my name.? ‘I can say no ‘. Honestly, I don’t want my body to have a diminished name.”

The Nobel Prize, awarded since 1901, recognizes the achievements of literature, science, peace, and, ultimately, wealth. Previous winners have included writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Toni Morrison, poets such as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky, and Rabindranath Tagore, and artists such as Harold Pinter and Eugene O’Neill.

American poet Louise Gluck won last year.

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