Distinguished author and Nobel Laureate is awarded honorary degree

Posted on 15 October 2024 • Honorary Graduate

Distinguished Zanzibar-born author and Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, who has been celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by The Open University.

He won global recognition in 2021 for becoming the first African writer in 30 years to receive the Nobel Prize for literature.

It resulted in many earlier works coming back into print while others were translated, for the first time, into other languages including Swahili, Abdulrazak’s first language.

He used the opportunity of global acclaim to champion the themes that feature in his work such as the humane and compassionate understanding of refugees and immigrants and his fiction often focuses on the destructive impact of colonialisation.

In his youth, the Emeritus Professor was forced to leave his home country after the British left the colony. During his life thereafter, he has spent four decades teaching English and postcolonial literature at the University of Kent.

His well-received published novels often involve tales of exploitation and oppression plus themes of exile and displacement – two include Pilgrim’s Way and Dottie.

Other books such as Paradise followed (shortlisted for the Booker and Whitbread prizes), and By The Sea, (longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times book prize).

There were more accolades to follow for his books that included The Last Gift, Gravel Heart and Afterlives. He is also known for his efforts to help transform the way literature is read and studied in Britain.

In collaboration with colleagues, he has been instrumental in bringing the works of postcolonial writers to British students and scholars.

At a degree ceremony for students in London’s Barbican, he said of this newest award: “I am very grateful to The Open University for conferring this honour on me.”