Nobel Prize Conversations

“I don’t write about heroes, I write about small people”

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s books often touch on the fate of the refugee and effects of colonialism. In this conversation, conudcted in June 2022, he speaks about his interest in how people cope with traumas or problems in their lives – and are able to retrieve something from them. Gurnah also speaks about what literature gives the writer and the reader: ”We are learning something. We are told something we didn’t know before.” He also offers insights into his writing: how he explores thoughtful silences and lifts the small struggles that play out in otherwise mundane lives and settings.

Last but not least, Gurnah talks to us about moving to the UK from Zanzibar as a teenager, and how his home country Zanzibar went through a big change during the revolution in 1964.

The host of this podcast is nobelprize.org’s Adam Smith.

Nobel Prize Conversations was produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.