Topic: African literature

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A cradle in the desert (image: Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Sabah Sanhouri's "Paradise"

The last resort

Sabah Sanhouri is a fresh, new literary voice from Sudan. Her novel "Paradise" revolves around an agency of the same name, an organisation that assists desperate people in ending their lives. By Volker KaminskiMore

Leila Aboulela's "Bird Summons": The arc of self-discoveryAbdelaziz Baraka Sakin’s "The Messiah of Darfur": A peacemaker in times of warTayeb Salih′s ″Season of Migration to the North″: A literary hall of mirrors
Nobel prizewinning author Abdulrazak Gurnah (photo: Amrei-Marie, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Nobel winner Abdulrazak Gurnah

"It's good to make right-wingers cry"

Abdulrazak Gurnah, the British-Tanzanian Nobel-winning writer, has spent a lifetime confronting colonialism and racial politics – and welcomes a new generation keeping these issues aliveMore

Abdulrazak Gurnah's "Paradise": "Freedom is not something they can take away"Abdulrazak Gurnah and Tsitsi Dangarembga: Can the Nobel Prize "revitalise" African literature?Abdulrazak Gurnah – "Pilgrim's Way": As foreign as a drop of oil in water
A woman with her child in Darfur, Western Sudan (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/UNAMID/A.G.Farran)

Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin’s "The Messiah of Darfur"

A peacemaker in times of war

In his multi-layered novel, Sudanese author Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin tells the incredible story of a charismatic "prophet" rallying followers in Darfur, a region devastated by bloody civil war. It is a moving tale of war and love, revenge and hope. Volker Kaminski read the bookMore

Tayeb Salih′s ″Season of Migration to the North″: A literary hall of mirrorsSudan's ex-dictator Bashir at the International Criminal Court: Arab dictators take noteSudan/Chad: War without borders
Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature (photo: Ger Harley/stock Pix/picture-alliance)

Abdulrazak Gurnah's "Paradise"

"Freedom is not something they can take away"

When Abdulrazak Gurnah was named winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021, the German translation of his novel "Paradise" was out of print. In early December, it was re-released. "Paradise" upends the prevailing black-and-white view of colonialism in the most striking manner. By Felix StephanMore

Abdulrazak Gurnah and Tsitsi Dangarembga: Can the Nobel Prize "revitalise" African literature?Abdulrazak Gurnah – "Pilgrim's Way": As foreign as a drop of oil in waterTidiane N'Diaye's "The Veiled Genocide": Selective theses on the Arab slave tradeCharlotte Wiedemann: "Now is the time for utopias": The end of white dominance
Abdulrazak Gurnah smiling in a garden (photo: AP Photo/picture-alliance)

Abdulrazak Gurnah and Tsitsi Dangarembga

Can the Nobel Prize "revitalise" African literature?

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the fourth author from sub-Saharan Africa to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Is the tide turning for African writers? By Annabelle Steffes-HalmerMore

Abdulrazak Gurnah – "Pilgrim's Way": As foreign as a drop of oil in waterNobel Peace Prize 2014: Serving stereotypes about the subcontinent?Philippines' Nobel Prize winner Ressa says "nothing is possible without facts"