“Reclaiming Power Over One’s Own Story”, Aminatta Forna’s Remarks on Abdulrazak Gurnah from the 2022 PEN America: World Voices Festival Opening Night

In her remarks for the opening night of the 2022 PEN America: World Voices Festival, Aminatta Forna recognizes what makes the work of Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah powerful and revealing. Forna highlights that Gurnah’s stories have “the power to fracture the distorting mirror that belonged to those who would see themselves reflected therein”, a power that—quoting Gurnah’s speech to the Swedish Academy—makes people, apparently small in stature, feel assured in themselves regardless of the disdain of others.