- Title: Nobel literature winner criticises UK's 'lack of humanity' in refugee response
- Date: 7th December 2021
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (FILE - OCTOBER 6, 2021) (Reuters) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BUILDING WHERE NOBEL PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE MADE
- Embargoed: 21st December 2021 16:08
- Keywords: Abdulrazak Gurnah Nobel Nobel prize Tanzanian novelist lecture literature laureate news conference
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM AND STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM AND STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA001F71HU87
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nobel literature prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah criticised the UK government's "lack of humanity" in its response to refugees on Tuesday (December 7) as he took questions from journalists online ahead of the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Gurnah referenced the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, saying her response to those seeking to come to the UK as refugees is strange, given her own family's history.
The Tanzanian novelist won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee.
Based in Britain and writing in English, Gurnah, 72, joins Nigeria's Wole Soyinka as the only two non-white writers from sub-Saharan Africa ever to win what is widely seen as the world's most prestigious literary award.
His novels include "Paradise", set in colonial East Africa during World War One and short-listed for the Booker Prize for Fiction, and "Desertion."
The Nobel Prize ceremony will take place on Friday (December 10).
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