Omani writer Jokha Alharthi won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for her novel Celestial Bodies in a ceremony at the Roundhouse in London on 21 May. The prize goes to a book translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland. This makes Celestial Bodies the first ever Arabic work in translation to win, having been longlisted alongside 12 other non-English titles. Alharthi is also the first author from the Gulf and one of only six Arab authors to have ever been longlisted for the prize. “It feels like a wonderful opportunity to share my inner world with the whole world!” Alharthi said in an interview following the ceremony. Originally published in 2010 under the name Sayyidat Al-Qamar, the English translation by American academic Marilyn Booth, and published by Sandstone Press, followed in 2018. Author and translator are equally rewarded, with the £50,000 prize money shared between the two. “I appreciate very much that this prize recognizes not only the power of the work in the language in which it was imagined and written, but also the importance of translation as creative writing and as responsibility, to readers…
First Time For Arabic Novel In Translation To Win Man Booker International Prize
May 22, 2019
