Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah uses the 2022 Edward W Said London Lecture to address the significance of place in the thought and self-definition of the displaced self. Gurnah refers to critical and fictional contemporary writing from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, including that of Edward Said, Eric Auerbach and Joseph Conrad. His lecture reflects on the effects of displacement, on the ongoing attachment to place and the creative impulse that it generates, and the obligation it entails. For some writers of fiction, the absent place has provided a rich dynamic to their work. This talk explores its implications and responsibilities.

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the author of ten novels, including Paradise (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award) and Desertion (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize). The winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, he lives in Canterbury.

The annual Edward W Said London Lecture series is supported by The Mosaic Rooms/AM Qattan Foundation and the London Review of Books. Find out more about the series and previous speakers here.

The event was part of London Literature Festival.