Abdulrazak Gurnah: accidental author and voice of displaced

Tanzania-born author Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose experience of crossing continents and cultures has fed his novels about the impact of migration on individuals and societies, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Oct 7. Photo: Reuters

Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Tanzanian-born author awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, forged a critically acclaimed 35-year career rooted in colonialism and immigration after arriving in Britain as a refugee.

The novelist was born on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar, off the coast of east Africa, in 1948, and began writing after moving to England as a refugee, where he is now based.