Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah bags the Nobel Prize in Literature

Gurnah has been awarded `for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.`

Stockholm: Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, the award-giving body said on Thursday (October 7). Gurnah, whose novels include "Paradise" and "Desertion", writes in English and lives in Britain. The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.14 million).

The prizes, for achievements in science, literature and peace, were created through a bequest in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel. They have been awarded since 1901, with the final prize in the line-up - economics - a later addition. Past winners have primarily been novelists such as Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, poets such as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky and Rabindranath Tagore, or playwrights such as Harold Pinter and Eugene O'Neill.

But writers have also won for bodies of work that include short fiction, history, essays, biography or journalism. Winston Churchill won for his memoirs, Bertrand Russell for his philosophy and Bob Dylan for his lyrics. Last year`s award was won by American poet Louise Gluck.

Beyond the prize money and prestige, the Nobel literature award generates a vast amount of attention for the winning author, often spurring book sales and introducing less well-known winners to a broader international public.

Meanwhile, Gurnah said it was just wonderful to win the prize and that he was honoured to be recognised with an award that has been given to such a huge list of accomplished writers.

"I think its just brilliant and wonderful," Gurnah told Reuters when asked how he felt to win the prize. "I am very grateful to the Swedish Academy for nominating me and my work." "It's just great - its just a big prize, and such a huge list of wonderful writers - I am still taking it in," he said. "It was such a complete surprise that I really had to wait until I heard it announced before I could believe it."