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Gurnah, whose novels include "Paradise" and "Desertion", writes
in English and lives in Britain.
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 10
million Swedish crowns ($1.14 million).
The prizes, for achievements in science, literature and peace,
were created through a bequest in the will of Swedish dynamite
inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel. They have been
awarded since 1901, with the final prize in the line-up -
economics - a later addition.
Past winners have primarily been novelists such as Ernest
Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, poets such
as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky and Rabindranath Tagore, or
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.
Beyond the prize money and prestige, the Nobel literature award
generates a vast amount of attention for the winning author,
often spurring book sales and introducing less well-known
winners to a broader international public.
($1 = 8.7856 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Simon Johnson and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm and
Justyna Pawlak in Warsaw; additional reporting by Johan Ahlander
in Gothenburg and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Editing by Jon Boyle
and Edmund Blair)
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