Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the award-giving body announced yesterday.
The Swedish Academy said the award was in recognition of his "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism."
Born in Zanzibar and based in England, Gurnah is a professor at the University of Kent. His novel "Paradise" was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994.
The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (US$1.14 million).
Past winners include novelists such as Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, poets such as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky and Rabindranath Tagore, and playwrights such as Harold Pinter and Eugene O'Neill.
But writers have also won for bodies of work that include short fiction, history, essays, biography or journalism.
Winston Churchill won for his memoirs, Bertrand Russell for his philosophy and Bob Dylan for his lyrics. Last year's award was won by American poet Louise Gluck.
(Agencies)