Abdulrazak Gurnah
(born in 1948) – British writer, Emeritus Professor at the University of Kent, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021. Born on the island of Zanzibar, which experienced coups, revolutions and conflicts in the 20th century. He escaped to the UK in the 1960s. First, he studied at the Christ Church College in Canterbury and later at the University of Kent, where he continued his scholarly career. His academic work and writings focus on the fate of refugees torn between different cultures and on building one’s life and identity in a new and foreign place. Some of his novels are Memory of Departure (1987), Paradise (1994), By the Sea (2001) and Desertion (2005). In 1994, he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize (Paradise) and in 2016 he was a member of the jury awarding that prize. He was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature of African origin since 1986 and the fifth ever.