Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has become the first Black writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature since 1993, the Swedish Academy announced Thursday.
Gurnah, who was born in Zanzibar and has written 10 novels was recognized by the Nobel Prize judges “For his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”
Gurnah will receive $1 million in prize money for the award. The writer formerly worked at University of Kent in England where he taught English and postcolonial literature.
Gurnah’s win may signal the beginning of change for the Nobel Prize, which has often been criticized for selecting male, eurocentric writers.
According to NPR, in the Nobel Prize’s 120 year history, only 16 women have won the prize in literature. Gurnah is the fourth African-born writer to win the Nobel Prize joining Wole Soyinka, Naguib Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee. The last Black person to win the award was Toni Morrison, who wrote Beloved and Tar Baby.
Source: Black Writer Wins Nobel Prize In Literature For First Time Since 1993
