Three Abdulrazak Gurnah Titles Acquired in the U.S. by Riverhead

Since winning the Nobel Prize, the Tanzanian’s novels, most of which went out of print, are now in heavy demand.
Abdulrazak Gurnah's Afterlives by Bloomsbury Books.

Abdulrazak Gurnah's Afterlives by Bloomsbury Books.

Three Abdulrazak Gurnah Titles Acquired in the U.S. by Riverhead

Riverhead Books has obtained the US rights to three novels by the Tanzanian Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah. The books are his latest and tenth novel Afterlives, By the Sea (2001), and Desertion (2005). There are no publication dates yet for the latter two, but Afterlives will be released in August 2022. The book was published last year in the UK by Bloomsbury.

Early this month, Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the second Black African laureate. The Swedish Academy chose him “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”

Since winning the coveted prize, Gurnah’s profile has risen. His novels, though, have been hard to come because most of them are out of print and the rights returned to him.

According to The New York Times, Gurnah’s agent Peter Straus since sold foreign rights to his books in 30 countries and fielded bids from six American publishers.

Read More

– Your Guide to Nobel Prize Winner Abdulrazak Gurnah’s 10 Novels

– Reading Abdulrazak Gurnah: 22 Essays on the 2021 Nobel Prize Winner’s Works

...

One Response

  1. Shanghai Translation Publishing House has announced that it has acquired the rights to publish Chinese translations (using the PRC’s official, simplified script) of ten novels by the new Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah.

    As reported at the web site that bears my name, it intends to publish five of Gurnah’s novels within second half of 2022.

    Bruce Humes

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommendation

The bisexual poet’s historic victory, for his second collection Nomad, is also the first time that a writer of the younger generation has won Africa’s richest prize, worth $100,000.
The debut Nigerian author’s short story collection, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, has seen him compared to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith and praised by Damon Galgut.
With Glory, the Zimbabwean joins Nigeria’s Chigozie Obioma and India’s Rohinton Mistry in an elite group.

“An ambitious new magazine committed to African literature”

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Join 25,000+ subscribers to essential, in-depth stories in African literature, Nigerian film, & culture: inspiring Profiles, incisive reviews, thought-provoking features & conversations that happen nowhere else. It's premium access to the visions of changemakers, from icons to emerging voices. Plus key industry stories from Folio Nigeria by CNN.

We respect your privacy and will never send you Spam or sell your email.

Search

Top