Abdulrazak Gurnah

On a late November afternoon, Saleh Omar arrives at Gatwick Airport from Zanzibar, an island in the Indian Ocean. With him, he has a small bag in which there lies his most precious possession - a mahogany box containing incense. He used to own a furniture shop, have a house, and be a husband and father. Now, he is an...

By the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature Abbas has never told anyone about his past—about what happened before he was a sailor on the high seas, before he met his wife Maryam outside a Boots in Exeter, before they settled into a quiet life in Norwich with their children, Jamal and Hanna. Now, at the age of...

The new novel from the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature - 'a maestro' (Guardian). A captivating story of the intertwined lives of three young people coming-of-age in postcolonial East Africa. Selected as a book to look out for in 2025 by the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times and BBC. ‘A poignant portrait of love, friendship and betrayal’ -...

By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 1994 'A poetic and vividly conjured book about Africa and the brooding power of the unknown' — Independent on Sunday 'Lingering and exquisite' — Guardian 'An obliterated world is enthrallingly retrieved' — Sunday Times Born in East Africa,...

BY THE WINNER OF THE 2021 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE ‘Riveting and heartbreaking ... A compelling novel, one that gathers close all those who were meant to be forgotten, and refuses their erasure’ — Maaza Mengiste, Guardian ‘A brilliant and important book for our...

By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 'There is a wonderful sardonic eloquence to this unnamed narrator's voice' Financial Times 'I don't think I've ever read a novel that is so convincingly and hauntingly sad about the loss of home' Independent on Sunday He thinks, as he escapes from Zanzibar, that he will probably never return, and...

By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 Vehement, comic and shrewd, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s first novel is an unwavering contemplation of East African coastal life. Poverty and depravity wreak havoc on Hassan Omar’s family. Amid great hardship, he decides to escape. The arrival of Independence brings new upheavals as well as the betrayal of the promise of freedom....

By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 An extraordinary depiction of the life of an immigrant, as he struggles to come to terms with the horror of his past and the meaning of his pilgrimage to England. Dear Catherine, he began. Here I sit, making a meal out of asking you to dinner. I don’t really know...

Theft is the new novel by Abdulrazak Gurnah, the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, hailed as 'a maestro' by the Guardian. It presents a captivating story of the intertwined lives of three young people coming-of-age in postcolonial East Africa. Selected as a book to look out for in 2025 by the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times, and BBC....

From the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature - 'a maestro' (Guardian). A captivating story of the intertwined lives of three young people coming-of-age in postcolonial East Africa **Selected as a book to look out for in 2025 by the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times and BBC****A Time Book of the Year 2025**‘A poignant portrait of love, friendship and...