Meet Jokha Alharthi, the first Arabic writer to win Man Booker Prize

Few things so starkly illustrate Western ignorance of Arab society as its simplistic and stereotypical view of Arab women — all burqa and hijab, and hapless victims of a misogynistic culture, allegedly complicit in their own oppression by their silence. Well-known Arab media commentator Ibrahim Nawar once wrote that the West saw Arab women simply as “silly veiled females” and the “oppressed who love their oppressors”.

The fact is that Arab women are as “diverse, independent and brave” as women anywhere, according to Omani novelist Jokha Alharthi, the first Arabic writer to win the prestigious £50,000 Man Booker International Prize awarded to a foreign language book translated into English. Her novel, Celestial Bodies, originally written in Arabic, beat five other contenders, including a previous winner, Olga Tokarczuk of Poland. It is to be published in India this month. She is also the first female Arabic writer to be translated into English.

At an appearance in London with the British-Turkish writer Elif Shafak, she forcefully refuted the patronising view of Arab women as “weak” and lacking agency. On the contrary — in their own discreet ways — they were constantly testing and challenging deep-seated patriarchal attitudes; there was a long tradition of the strong Arab matriarch, she said.

Alharthi hopes that her novel, which features some quite robust characters trying to negotiate life in a patriarchal milieu, will open a “window” on Arab society. She describes it as an “invitation” to outsiders to “look at Oman with an open mind and heart”.

“Celestial Bodies offers a glimpse into the colourful life of an Arab Omani family, particularly three sisters growing up at a pivotal time in Omani history. I’ve aimed to depict lives that will resonate with many Omani youngsters while offering a relatable social image of the 21st century Oman, particularly for those less familiar with this part of the world,” she said in an interview to the Man Booker Prize website.

The basement auditorium of Waterstones bookstore in Central London was packed with book-lovers — jostling for seats in the front row to hear and interact with Alharthi while copies of her novel stood in a pile on a table outside waiting to be autographed by her. A slight, soft-spoken figure dressed conservatively in a long-sleeved robe, head covered with a hijab, she appeared almost shy as she walked on to the stage flanked by her English translator Marilyn Booth, with whom she shared the prize, and Shafak. One was struck by how lightly she wore her fame. She had come despite being in the midst of a long Ramzan fast, and the exhaustion showed. Sometimes, she spoke almost in a whisper so that those of us at the back could barely hear. But apparently that’s how softly she speaks — fasting or not.

Her English, she acknowledged, was not great. She came to it rather late in life and, at 41, she was still learning. And, no, she had no immediate plans to attempt a book in English, thank you! She was also candid that she felt no shame in flaunting her Arab identity. While she was, of course, delighted to win a prestigious international award and the recognition it had brought, she was even more proud that an Arab had won it. 

“I’m the first Arab person who won this prize, so I feel extremely proud,’’ she said. The praise she got back home meant to her more than any international acclaim. It was “wonderful”, she said, that Omani readers were flocking to buy her book. “I am an Omani. Seeing people in my country want to read it is amazing,” she said, adding that she was overwhelmed by the response. 

Oman is one of the more traditional countries in the Gulf region and was, until the 1970s, one of the most isolated. Even some Booker judges, it seems, had not heard of Alharthi before though she has been writing in Arabic for several years. She has published two collections of short stories, one children’s book and two other novels besides Celestial Bodies. The last was first published nearly a decade ago under the title Sayyidatal-Qamar (“Ladies of the Moon”) and won the Best Omani Novel Award in 2010.

Yet, were it not for the courage and persistence of a small Scottish publishing house, Sandstone, which took on the book though it had not published any Arabic work before, it may have remained unknown to the outside world. Alharthi has spoken of Oman’s long and “thriving” literary tradition and lamented that so little is known about it abroad. “I hope this helps international readers discover that Oman has an active and talented 

writing community who live and work for their art. They find joy in writing, or in art, much the same way as anywhere else,” she said.

Celestial Bodies was selected by a panel of five judges, which included Indian novelist and essayist Pankaj Mishra. Historian and broadcaster, Bettany Hughes, who chaired the jury, described it as “a book to win over the head and the heart in equal measure”. “Its delicate artistry draws us into a richly imagined community, opening out to tackle profound questions of time and mortality—and disturbing aspects of our shared history,” she said.

The novel is set against the backdrop of Oman’s transition from feudalism and colonialism to the modern age seen through the lives of three generations of a slave-owning family. At its heart are three sisters growing up in a period of great social and  cultural change and the impact on their lives of the moral and personal choices they make. There has been some criticism of Alharthi for raking up Oman’s history of slavery. But she believes that literature is the best forum for examining difficult issues. “It's a sensitive subject and kind of a taboo. But 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 said at the awards ceremony.

The book was born out of “homesickness” when she was at Edinburgh University working on her PhD in Arab classics. “The first year in Edinburgh was difficult for me…so I felt the need to feel something from home. Actually writing saved me,” she told the BBC. What started as an escape from a sense of loneliness and longing for home grew into an exploration of her country’s past.

Muscat-born Alharthi, who teaches at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, is the latest among a new generation of Arab women writers to make it to the international literary circuit. Last summer, Syria-born Rana Haddad was hailed as a bold new female voice for her satirical debut novel, The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor, which like Alharthi’s book looks back at the history of the writer’s homeland — Syria of the 1980s.

But generally Arabic writers, especially women, continue to suffer from “invisibility” because of a lack of exposure to the English-speaking world. In the wake of the “Arab Spring”, however, interest in the region has grown and publishers — spurred by new marketing opportunities — are looking out for new voices, but translations remain rare. Will Alharthi’s success open doors for others?

The writer is a London-based journalist