During his time in China, Gurnah was often asked about his African roots and their influence on his thinking and writing.

He said in his first speech in Shanghai on March 6 that for him, the discontent he grew up with concerning the historical narrative of the colonial presence and its activities and how this narrative requires the simplification of his people's complex culture was one of the impulses that led him to writing.

"I left my country in some turmoil when I was 18 years old, and that experience of departure and wanting to retrieve my knowledge and understanding of what I have left behind was the other impulse," he adds.

The writer revealed to readers the multicultural backdrop he was immersed in during childhood and how these memories have influenced the way he looks at things.

In Shanghai, Gurnah mentioned Zheng He (1371-1433), the great Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) admiral, mariner and diplomat who set off on seven voyages between 1405 and 1433, the farthest being one to East Africa.

"I grew up with stories of the many connections between us and places across the ocean. A walk on the beach on parts of the coast would deliver shards of celadon pottery, first made in China, and part of the debris left behind by Admiral Zheng He's expedition. There were stories of Chinese people who stayed behind after the armada sailed away.

"Many such stories of the connection across the ocean would have seemed like legends or myths if I had not seen the evidence of this varied humanity every year and just outside our doorstep," says Gurnah, a keen observer who used to live near the port, which like ports all over the world, served as an aggregator of stories brought by travelers from afar. One of those he assumed was Zheng, who was carried by the seasonal monsoon to Zanzibar.