We are still living through the consequences of the colonial period, says Nobel laureate Gurnah

At the age of 76, with the 2021 Literature Nobel under his belt (he's the first writer of African origin to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993) Abdulrazak Gurnah remains haunted by a teenage recollection - a boy of the same age as him, working as a servant, falsely accused of stealing biscuits.

"Obviously he's a powerless young man... His life is probably circumscribed. How would he deal with what life has given to him?" Gurnah would ponder. His curiosity led to his first book since he was awarded the Nobel - "Theft," a layered narrative rooted in personal memory and political histories.

Gurnah, who is emeritus professor of English and Post-Colonial Literatures at the University of Kent, has been interested in post-colonial writing and discourses associated with colonialism, especially in relation to Africa, the Caribbean, and India.

His latest work, though set in contemporary Tanzania, also navigates the ongoing legacies of colonialism. "We are still living through the consequences of the colonial period," Gurnah says. "Inequality in economic terms, particularly for small places... tourism is a complicated example of that."

While acknowledging tourism's positive contributions - jobs, investment, better infrastructure - Gurnah does not shy away from its "corrupting" side, citing technological and economic disparities and the seduction of power and commissions that come with it.

Admirers of Gurnah's work are aware that his interest lies in the intersections of history, identity, and power. "Literature allows us to understand the context in a way that perhaps we hadn't understood before," he reflects. His optimism persists, even amid the internet age's distractions. "The book is still alive and well... Let everybody have all of it. Let's have the books and let's have the internet."