Books by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Paradise is a captivating novel by Abdulrazak Gurnah, published in 2004 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. This engrossing work of fiction is an exploration of the human condition, set against a backdrop of exotic locales and historical events. The author's masterful storytelling transports you to a world of intrigue, conflict, and raw emotion. The book's genre blurs the lines between historical fiction and drama, creating a unique reading experience that leaves a lasting impression. Paradise is more than just a book; it's a journey into a world that's as complex and captivating as the characters that populate it. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, this novel is a testament to Gurnah's literary prowess and his ability to weave a narrative that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

Presents a story of love and betrayal, of seduction and of possession, and of a people desperately trying to find stability amidst the maelstrom of their times.

An astounding meditation on family, self and the meaning of home by the Booker-shortlisted author of Desertion

Østafrika i begyndelsen af forrige århundrede. Niårige Ilyas bliverbortført af tyske kolonitropper, der kæmper mod briterne om retten til territoriet. Som ung mand vender Ilyas hjem til sin landsby, kun for at finde ud af, at hans forældre er døde, og søsteren Afiya forsvundet. Hamza blev som barn solgt af sin far til et liv som slave, men undslipper ved at vælge det barske liv som soldat i kolonitroppene. Da han nedbrudt vender tilbage til barndommens kystby, krydser han skæbne med Afiya. Flere år senere griber truslen fra en ny krig ind i deres liv, denne gang på et helt andet kontinent. Efterliv er en medrivende og oprørende fortælling om kolonialismens aftryk på det enkelte menneskeliv og verden som sådan. Abdulrazak Gurnah blev tildelt Nobelprisen i litteratur i 2021 ”… for kompromisløst og med stor medfølelse at have belyst kolonialismens følger og flygtninges skæbne i kløften mellem kulturer og kontinenter.”Om forfatteren:Abdulrazak Gurnah (f. 1948) blev tildelt Nobelprisen i litteratur 2021. Han har skrevet ti romaner, hvoraf Paradis og Ved havet (på dansk i hhv. 2022 og 2023) blev shortlistet til Bookerprisen. Han er professor emeritus og har undervist i engelsk og postkolonial litteratur ved universitetet i Kent. Gurnah er født på Zanzibar og emigrerede til Storbritannien, da han var 20 år gammel. Han bor i Canterbury i England.

En stærk og øjenåbnende fortælling af nobelpristager Abdulrazak Gurnah: 12-årige Yusuf sendes til den afrikanske østkyst af sine fattige forældre for at bo hos "onkel" Aziz, en velstående købmand. Snart går det dog op for Yusuf, at han i virkeligheden er solgt som gældsslave. Han sættes til at arbejde i Aziz’ butik og finder trøst i en paradisisk have og venskabet med den ældre Khalil. Men da købmandens kone kaster sin kærlighed på den smukke dreng, sendes han ud på en strabadserende og eventyrlig rejse. "Paradis" er en roman om et samfund i omvæltning, om imperialismens brutalitet og om at være i andre menneskers vold. Gennem Yusuf oplever vi et Østafrika præget af stammestridigheder, overtro, sygdom og slaveri, men også af bjergtagende skønhed. Om forfatteren:Abdulrazak Gurnah (f. 1948, Zanzibar) har udgivet en lang række prisbelønnede og kritikerroste romaner og noveller. Han kredser i sit forfatterskab særligt om flygtningen og dennes vilkår, status og identitet.Abdulrazak Gurnah kom til England som flygtning fra Tanzania, da han var 18 år gammel, og det er netop erfaringen som flygtning og livet i eksil, han trækker på i sine værker. Han begyndte at skrive som 21-årig, og selv om swahili var hans førstesprog, blev engelsk hans litterære værktøj.I Abdulrazak Gurnahs bøger ligger fokus ofte på menneskets identitet og selvopfattelse. Han leger med læserens forventninger og bryder ofte med genrekonventioner.Abdulrazak Gurnah blev i 2021 tildelt Nobelprisen i litteratur "for kompromisløst og med stor medfølelse at have belyst kolonialismens følger og flygtninges skæbne i kløften mellem kulturer og kontinenter."Han er i dag fortsat bosat i England og er pensioneret professor i Engelsk og postkolonial litteratur ved University of Kent.

**By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021**Vehement, comic and shrewd, Abdulrazak Gurnah's first novel is a "compelling" (New York Times) and unwavering contemplation of East African coastal life.Hassan Omar is a gifted young man, with a potentially bright future but a past marred by poverty. In the wake of a national uprising, and with a new government in place, though, he is denied a scholarship to a university abroad and deprived of the opportunity to study further. Instead, Hassan travels to Nairobi to stay with a wealthy uncle, in the hope that he will release his mother's rightful share of the family inheritance.In Nairobi, Hassan experiences the collision of past secrets and future hopes, and the compounding of fear and frustration, beauty and brutality. In his debut novel, Nobel Prize winning author Abdurlazak Gurnah creates a fierce tale of undeniable power.

**By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021**A "wonderful" (Maaza Mengiste) 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 life in England.Dear Catherine, he began. Here I sit, making a meal out of asking you to dinner. I don't really know how to do it. To have cultural integrity, I would have to send my aunt to speak, discreetly, to your aunt, who would then speak to your mother, who would speak to my mother, who would speak to my father, who would speak to me and then approach your mother, who would then approach you. Daud has immigrated to England in the wake of political turmoil in his native Tanzania. For years, he has tried to hide his past. But when he meets Catherine, he is determined to recount for her the stories of his tragic upbringing, his flight to England, and the racism in his new homeland. Structured as a pilgrimage, one which leads Daud deep into the pain and beauty of the past and forward into a new understanding of his life in exile, Pilgrims Way is a captivating, lyrical story about identity, memory, and immigration.

**By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021**A "corrosively funny and relentless" (The New York Times) tale of cultural identity and displacement, Admiring Silence is the story of a man's dual lives as a refugee from his native Zanzibar in England.The unnamed narrator of this dazzling novel escapes from Zanzibar to England knowing that he will probably never return. In his new country, things are not quite as he imagined - the school where he teaches is cramped and violent, and he quickly forgets how it feels to belong. But when he meets a beautiful, rebellious woman named Emma, and when Emma, turns away from her white, middle-class roots to offer him love and bear him a child, the narrator chooses to hide his past from his new family and his present circumstance from his family back in Zanzibar. Twenty years later, when the barriers at last come down in Zanzibar, he is compelled to go back. What he discovers there, in a story potent with truth, will change the entire vision of his life.

The breakthrough book from the highly acclaimed author of By the Sea

'One of the world's most prominent postcolonial writers . He has consistently and with great compassion penetrated the effects of colonialism and its effects on the lives of uprooted and migrating individuals' Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel CommitteeDelivered in London on 7 December 2021, 'Writing' is the lecture of the Nobel Laureate in Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah. Collected here with three further essays, it explores his coming-of-age, his early experiences in 1960s Britain, the narratives of oceans, his lifelong love affair with reading, and the power of writing to subvert the stories that have been handed to us. Generous, funny and wise, this collection is the perfect introduction to the storyteller described as 'one of Africa's most important living writers'; whose work, now spanning four decades, continues to spin wonder and magic while offering penetrating insight into exile, migration and homecoming. 'In book after book, he guides us through seismic historic moments and devastating societal ruptures while gently outlining what it is that keeps those families, friendships and loving spaces intact' Maaza Mengiste'A wondrous writer' Philippe Sands

By the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature A searing tale of a young woman re-discovering her troubled family history and finding herself in the process.In post-World War II England, 17-year-old Dottie Badoura Fatma Balfour knows nothing of her family origins, and little of their history - or the abuse her ancestors suffered as they made their home in Britain. But Dottie knows what her family means to her, and in the wake of her mother's death, she's determined to keep the family together. She takes responsibility for her younger siblings, Sophie and Hudson. But as Sophie drifts from man to man, and the confused Hudson is absorbed into a world of crime, Dottie is forced to consider her own needs. Feeling rootless in England, she seeks a space for herself and an identity through books and begins to clear a path through life. Gradually, Dottie gathers the confidence to take risks, to forge friendships and to challenge the labels that have been forced upon her.For readers of Jhumpa Lahiri and Zadie Smith, Dottie is a deeply compassionate portrait of a second generation immigrant, a masterful examination of poverty and racism, and a psychologically nuanced story of family and survival.