Omani author wins Man Booker prize

Wednesday, 22 May 2019 10:01

Omani author Jokha Alharthi has become the first Arabic writer to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize.

She's also the first female writer from Oman to be translated into English.

Her book Celestial Bodies confronts Oman's post-colonial evolution, with the judges describing it as "a richly imagined, engaging and poetic insight into a society in transition and into lives previously obscured".

Alharthi will share the £50,000 (around AED 233,364) prize with her translator, American academic Marilyn Booth.

More from International News

Race to reach trapped survivors offers hope in Colombia quake zone

Rescuers raced in Colombia on Friday to free four people from a collapsed hotel, a rare sign of hope nearly four days after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Andean nation in decades left hundreds dead or missing.
France's top court blocks social media ban for under-15s

France's top court on Friday blocked a bill banning social media access for under-15s, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression and delivering a setback for President Emmanuel Macron, who asked his government to rewrite the legislation.
Japan's record rains strand thousands at Narita airport; kill eight

Record rainfall in Japan stranded thousands of travellers at Tokyo's Narita airport on Friday, bringing floods to the surrounding area that disrupted transport, knocked out power to 20,000 homes and killed eight.
Wildfires in Britain hit record levels after homes burn in intense heat

Wildfires in England and Wales have hit a record level, fire chiefs said on Friday, warning that rescue services were battling to keep up with rising risks a day after fires raced from tinder-dry fields to engulf houses on the hottest day of the year.