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Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah uses fiction as a bridge to the realities of colonialism, refugees

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    Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah poses for a photo at his home in Canterbury, England, on Oct. 7, 2021. Gurnah was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. The Swedish Academy said the award was in recognition of his "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism." (Frank Augstein/AP)
    Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah poses for a photo at his home in Canterbury, England, on Oct. 7, 2021. Gurnah was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. The Swedish Academy said the award was in recognition of his "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism." (Frank Augstein/AP)

    2021 Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah is the first Black African author to win the prize for literature in three decades.

    His novels center on themes of migration, identity and effects of colonialism in East Africa.

    Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks to Gurnah about his life, his work and the significance of the win.

    Copies of "Afterlives" by Zanzibar-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah in a book shop in London, on Oct. 7, 2021. (Alberto Pezzali/AP)
    Copies of "Afterlives" by Zanzibar-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah in a book shop in London, on Oct. 7, 2021. (Alberto Pezzali/AP)

    This segment aired on October 13, 2021.

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