The novel is the ninth book from Professor Gurnah, who teaches English and Postcolonial Literatures in the School of English.
Gravel Heart is set in Zanzibar in the 1970s and tells the story of Salim and his family in the aftermath of the nation’s independence, before he moves to London and faces the reality of life in a new country, and the family he has left behind.
The novel, published by Bloomsbury, was recently described as ‘glittering’ in a recent Telegraph profile of Professor Gurnah, while a review in the Guardian called it ‘a deeply rewarding novel’.
Other books he has written include Paradise (shortlisted for both the Booker and the Whitbread Prizes), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and awarded the RFI Temoin du monde prize) and Desertion (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize).
Professor Gurnah was appointed a Man Booker Prize judge in 2016.
Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah publishes latest novel, Gravel Heart