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How Nobel Prize-Winning Author Abdulrazak Gurnah Writes

How Nobel Prize-Winning Author Abdulrazak Gurnah Writes

FromThe Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience


How Nobel Prize-Winning Author Abdulrazak Gurnah Writes

FromThe Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

ratings:
Length:
33 minutes
Released:
Sep 2, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

#PodcastersForJustice
2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah, spoke to me about life after becoming a laureate, the difference between authors and writers, and his latest novel "Afterlives." 
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 was awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents"
The Tanzanian-born British novelist and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Kent, has written short stories, essays, and ten novels including Paradise (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the LA Times Book Award), and Desertion.
His latest novel, Afterlives, has been described as "... a sweeping, multi-generational saga of displacement, loss, and love, set against the brutal colonization of east Africa"
The New York Times Book Review called the author, "... a master of the art form who understands human failings in conflicts both political and intimate — and how these shortcomings create afflictions from which nations and individuals continue to suffer, needlessly, generation after generation."
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In this file Abdulrazak Gurnah and I discussed:

Finding global readers and acclaim two years after the UK release of his latest book

The irony of becoming a Nobel laureate in literature 

Why he always writes the final episode first

The intergenerational trauma of war and how he chooses his protagonists

Why you may be in the wrong business

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

Afterlives: A Novel by Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2021

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Kelton Reid on Twitter


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Released:
Sep 2, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Kelton Reid studies the habits, habitats, and brains of a wide spectrum of renowned writers to learn their secrets of productivity and creativity. Tune in each week to learn how great writers keep the ink flowing, the cursor moving, and avoid block. Explore our archives at writerfiles.fm to find interviews with notable guests that include bestselling authors John Scalzi (Old Mans War), Greg Iles (Natchez Burning), Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City), Kevin Kelly (founder of WIRED magazine), Emma Donoghue (Oscar Nominee for Room), Maria Konnikova (The Confidence Game), Andy Weir (The Martian), Dan Buettner (The Blue Zones), Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist), Daniel Pink (When), and serial guest hosts: neuroscientist Michael Grybko, journalist Adam Skolnick, and short story writer Robert Bruce.