Daily Times

Jokha Alharthi on Tuesday became the first Arabic author to win the Man Booker International Prize for her novel Celestial Bodies which reveals her Omani homeland’s post-colonial transformation. “I am thrilled that a window has been opened to the rich Arabic culture,” Jokha Alharthi, 40, told reporters after the ceremony at the Roundhouse in London. Alharthi is the author of two previous collections of short fiction, a children’s book and three novels in Arabic. She studied classical Arabic poetry at Edinburgh University and teaches at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. “Oman inspired me but I think international readers can relate to the human values in the book – freedom and love,” she said. The prestigious £50,000 prize, which celebrates translated fiction from around the world, is divided equally between the author and the translator. Alharthi’s translator was American academic Marilyn Booth, who teaches Arabic literature at Oxford University.