Abdulrazak Gurnah

By the Sea, 2001, Longlisted

Paradise, 1994, Shortlisted

Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in 1948 on the island of Zanzibar off the coast of East Africa. He came to Britain as a student in 1968 and now teaches literature at the University of Kent. He is associate editor of the journal Wasafiri.  His first three novels, Memory of Departure, Pilgrims Way and Dottie, document the immigrant experience in contemporary Britain from different perspectives. His fourth novel, Paradise, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.  His most recent novel is Desertion, shortlisted for a 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize.

The Man Booker Prize Fiction at its finest