Abdulrazak Gurna Was Declared The Winner Of 2021 Nobel Prize In Literature.

This award is given by the Swedish Academy and is worth SEK 10 million (USD 1.14 million / GBP 840,000). Gurna, 73, is the author of 10 novels, including Paradise and the Desert. He said how grateful he was to the Academy, adding, "It's fantastic - it's just an outstanding award and a massive list of great writers - I still accept it.

"It was such a shock that I had to wait to hear it before I could believe it." Paradise, published in 1994, tells the story of a boy in his early 20s. "Abdulrazak Gurna's commitment to truth and his aversion to simplification is astounding," said a statement from the Nobel Literature Committee.

"His novels move away from stereotypical descriptions and open our eyes to a culturally diverse East Africa, unknown to many in other parts from the world."

"[His] character is in a split between cultures and continents, between past lives and new lives; it's an uncertain state that can never be resolved." Born in Zanzibar in 1948, Gurna came to Britain as a refugee in the late 1960s.vUntil his retirement, he was a Professor from English and Postcolonial Literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Gurna is the first black African writer to win the award since Vole Soyinka in 1986. He said his award would spell "discussions" like the refugee and colonialism crisis he has been through. "These are things that accompany us every day. People are dying; people are being injured all over the world - we have to deal with this issue in the good possible way," he said.

"I came to the UK when these words were not synonymous with asylum seekers – more people fighting and fleeing terrorist countries. "The world is much crueler than it was in the 1960s, so now that the pressure on safe countries is greater, they must attract more people." In a 2016 interview, when asked if Gurna would be branded a "writer of postcolonial and world literature," Gurna replied, "I would not use these words. I would not consider myself a writer.

I think if someone challenged me, it would be a different way of saying, 'You... one of these...? "I would probably say no. That's right; I don't want this part of me to have a reduced name." The Nobel Prize, awarded since 1901, recognizes achievements in literature, science, peace, and later in business.

Past winners have included writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Tony Morrison, poets such as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky, and Rabindranath Tagore, and playwrights such as Harold Pinter and Eugene O'Neill. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill won for his memoirs, Bertrand Russell for his philosophy, and Bob Dylan for his writings. American poet Louise Gluck won the award last year.