Canterbury Christ Church is delighted that alumnus and Honorary Fellow Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Professor Gurnah is the first Black-African writer to win in 35 years for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee”.
Abdulrazak studied for his first degree with Christ Church in the late sixties and was made an Honorary Fellow of the University in November 2011.
He was born in 1948 in Zanzibar and recently retired from the University of Kent. He is the author of seven novels which include 'Paradise' - shortlisted for both the Booker and the Whitbread Prizes, 'By the Sea' - longlisted for the Booker Prize and awarded the RFI Temoin du monde prize and 'Desertion' - shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize.