In 2021, the Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah joined the list of African writers awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature - five in total. Born and raised in the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island, Zanzibar, Gurnah was the second Black African to receive the award, after the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka in 1986. Having fled persecution during Zanzibar's Revolution, and living in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, Gurnah has 10 novels published as well as several short stories. His works are mainly focused on issues of identity, displacement, colonialism, and slavery.
The list of African novelists who received the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature also includes Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt), Nadine Gordimer (South Africa), and J.M. Coetzee (South Africa).
Cumulative number of African Nobel Prize laureates in Literature as of 2021, by nationality
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Quartz. (October 7, 2021). Cumulative number of African Nobel Prize laureates in Literature as of 2021, by nationality [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268763/african-nobel-prize-laureates-in-literature-by-nationality/
Quartz. "Cumulative number of African Nobel Prize laureates in Literature as of 2021, by nationality." Chart. October 7, 2021. Statista. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268763/african-nobel-prize-laureates-in-literature-by-nationality/
Quartz. (2021). Cumulative number of African Nobel Prize laureates in Literature as of 2021, by nationality. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268763/african-nobel-prize-laureates-in-literature-by-nationality/
Quartz. "Cumulative Number of African Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature as of 2021, by Nationality." Statista, Statista Inc., 7 Oct 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268763/african-nobel-prize-laureates-in-literature-by-nationality/
Quartz, Cumulative number of African Nobel Prize laureates in Literature as of 2021, by nationality Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268763/african-nobel-prize-laureates-in-literature-by-nationality/ (last visited December 22, 2024)
Cumulative number of African Nobel Prize laureates in Literature as of 2021, by nationality [Graph], Quartz, October 7, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268763/african-nobel-prize-laureates-in-literature-by-nationality/