Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Omani Woman Wins Man Booker International Prize


Wed 22 May 2019 | 10:23 AM
Mohamed Helba

Jokha Alharthi, an Omani author, won on Wednesday the Man Booker International prize for her novel Celestial Bodies. Alharthi became the first Arab woman writer to get this prize.

"It's a sensitive subject and kind of a taboo," the Omani author said in an interview. "I think literature is the best platform to discuss sensitive issues, and slavery is not exclusive to Oman. It's part of human history," she added.

[caption id="attachment_52564" align="aligncenter" width="800"]Omani Woman Jokha Alharthi Omani Woman Jokha Alharthi [/caption]

Who is Jokha Alharthi

Alharthi, who got her PhD in Classical Arabic Literature from Edinburgh University, is an Omani writer and academic. She wrote about three novels; “Narinjah,” “Sayyidat al-Qamar,” and “Manamat." Overall, she published ten books.

The academic writer published three collections of short stories and another collection of poems.

[caption id="attachment_52573" align="alignnone" width="976"] Jokha Alharthi with translator Marilyn Booth Jokha Alharthi with translator Marilyn Booth[/caption]

People on social media platforms interacted with the prize by sharing videos and photos of Alharthi on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/VictoriaWeavil/status/1131105145167785984

https://twitter.com/kdrastegar/status/1131003784061181958

https://twitter.com/KhalifaAlharthy/status/1130986834115403776

https://twitter.com/bookishmuslim/status/1130967002636529664

https://twitter.com/__sara_18/status/1130954006354944001

https://twitter.com/k_a_farrell/status/1130943054091829249

https://twitter.com/TrudaSpruyt/status/1130940168666537986

https://twitter.com/lonesomereader/status/1130935991068438528