Nobel laureate in literature Abdulrazak Gurnah captivated Princeton audiences in an Oct. 30 visit with reflections on literature, compassion and the “oceanic cosmopolitanism” that connects artists and thinkers across continents.  

Gurnah was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and is professor of English and postcolonial literatures, emeritus, at the University of Kent in England. When he was a child in the 1950s, “travelers would come from different parts of the ocean to our island with their goods and stories,” Gurnah told a rapt audience of students, faculty members, staff and community members that packed Arthur Lewis Auditorium. “I grew up with the stories they brought.

“Every year the world came to us, then went away when the currents and the winds changed, leaving something behind, not the least of which was a greater knowledge of human multiplicity,” Gurnah said. “I have written and spoken about this phenomenon and its tremendous impact in understanding a connection with the wider world.”