Alongside his work in academia, Gurnah is a creative writer and novelist. He is the author of many short stories, essays and 10 novels. [17] By the Sea (2001) [48] (longlisted for the Booker Prize [51] and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize) [51]

a b c d e "Nobel Literature Prize 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah named winner". BBC News. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 . Retrieved 9 October 2021. a b c d "Abdulrazak Gurnah: Influencing policymakers, cultural providers, curricula, and the reading public worldwide via new imaginings of empire and postcoloniality". REF 2014 | Impact Case Studies . Retrieved 14 October 2021. Lavery, Charné (May 2013). "White-washed Minarets and Slimy Gutters: Abdulrazak Gurnah, Narrative Form and Indian Ocean Space". English Studies in Africa. 56 (1): 117–127. doi: 10.1080/00138398.2013.780686. ISSN 0013-8398. S2CID 143927840. Refugee Tales: Volume III – Comma Press". commapress.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021 . Retrieved 7 October 2021.Bosman, Sean James (26 August 2021). "Abdulrazak Gurnah". Rejection of Victimhood in Literature by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Luis Alberto Urrea. Brill. pp.36–72. doi: 10.1163/9789004469006_003. ISBN 978-90-04-46900-6. S2CID 241357989.

Novelist Maaza Mengiste has described Gurnah's works by saying: "He has written work that is absolutely unflinching and yet at the same time completely compassionate and full of heart for people of East Africa. [...] He is writing stories that are often quiet stories of people who aren’t heard, but there’s an insistence there that we listen." [12]verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Mars-Jones, Adam (15 May 2005). "It was all going so well". The Observer. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 . Retrieved 7 October 2021. I am honoured to be awarded this prize and to join the writers who have preceded me on this list. It is overwhelming and I am so proud.” Abdulrazak Gurnah Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature". Wasafiri. 8 October 2021 . Retrieved 31 October 2021. Awami, Sammy (9 October 2021). "In Tanzania, Gurnah's Nobel Prize win sparks both joy and debate". Al Jazeera . Retrieved 10 October 2021.

King, Bruce (2006). "Abdulrazak Gurnah and Hanif Kureishi: Failed Revolutions". In Acheson, James; Ross, Sarah C.E. (eds.). The Contemporary British Novel Since 1980. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp.85–94. doi: 10.1007/978-1-349-73717-8_8. ISBN 978-1-349-73717-8. OCLC 1104713636. Prono, Luca (2005). "Abdulrazak Gurnah – Literature". British Council. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019 . Retrieved 7 October 2021.a b Alter, Alexandra (27 October 2021). "He Won the Nobel. Why Are His Books So Hard to Find?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 27 October 2021. It’s not always asylum seeking, it can be so many reasons, it can be trade, it can be commerce, it can be education, it can be love,” she said. “The first of his novels I took on at Bloomsbury is called By the Sea, and there’s this haunting image of a man at Heathrow airport with a carved incense box, and that’s all he has. He arrives, and he says one word, and that’s ‘asylum’.” Pringle said Gurnah is as important a writer as Chinua Achebe. “His writing is particularly beautiful and grave and also humorous and kind and sensitive. He’s an extraordinary writer writing about really important things.” Hand, Felicity. "Abdulrazak Gurnah (1948–)". The Literary Encyclopedia (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 June 2018 . Retrieved 7 October 2021. a b c d e f g Alter, Alexandra; Marshall, Alex (7 October 2021). "Abdulrazak Gurnah Is Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 . Retrieved 9 October 2021.

Paradise (1994) [48] (shortlisted for the Booker Prize [49] and the Whitbread Prize; [49] selected for the Big Jubilee Read) Lall, Rashmee Roshan (31 October 2021). "Abdulrazak Gurnah: the truth-teller's tale". openDemocracy . Retrieved 31 October 2021. AbdulrazakGurnah (born 1948, Zanzibar (now in Tanzania)) Tanzanian-born British author known for his novels about the effects of colonialism, the refugee experience, and displacement in the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021. a b "Abdulrazak Gurnah". Booker Prize. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 . Retrieved 7 October 2021. Gurnah's 1994 novel Paradise was shortlisted for the Booker, the Whitbread and the Writers' Guild Prizes as well as the ALOA Prize for the best Danish translation. [33] His novel By the Sea (2001) was longlisted for the Booker and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, [33] while Desertion (2005) was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. [33] [34]Although Gurnah’s first language was Swahili, he wrote in English. He drew from a wide array of literary traditions, such as the surahs of the Qurʾān, Arabic and Persian poetry, and Shakespeare. Central to much of his writing were the themes of the long-reaching and destructive impact of colonialism and the upheaval experienced by immigrants and refugees. 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.” Attree, Lizzy (7 October 2021). "Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah: An introduction to the man and his writing". The World . Retrieved 10 October 2021. Gurnah lives in Canterbury [38] and has British citizenship. [39] He maintains close ties with Tanzania, where he still has family and where he says he goes when he can: "I am from there. In my mind I live there." [40] He is married to the Guyanese-born scholar of literature, Denise de Caires Narain. [41] [42] [43] [44] Writings [ edit ] Novels [ edit ] Kaigai, Kimani (May 2013). "At the Margins: Silences in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Admiring Silence and The Last Gift". English Studies in Africa. 56 (1): 128–140. doi: 10.1080/00138398.2013.780688. ISSN 0013-8398. S2CID 143867462. a b c Alter, Alexandra (5 November 2021). "Why one Nobel Laureate is struggling to sell books in America". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021.