Nobel Prize-winning author takes on 'everyday, ordinary' things in new novel

By Andrew Limbong

Published March 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM EDT

Author Abdulrazak Gurnah was a surprise winner of the Nobel prize for his multigenerational saga of displacement and loss during the colonization of East Africa called Afterlives. He's back with a new book 鈥� Theft 鈥� that has a tighter focus 鈥� on a group coming of age in Tanzania in the early 2000s.

Andrew Limbong

Andrew Limbong is a reporter for NPR's Arts Desk, where he does pieces on anything remotely related to arts or culture, from streamers looking for mental health on Twitch to Britney Spears' fight over her conservatorship. He's also covered the near collapse of the live music industry during the coronavirus pandemic. He's the host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast and a frequent host on Life Kit.

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Nobel Prize-winning author takes on 'everyday, ordinary' things in new novel