Jokha Alharthi

An internationally acclaimed Omani novelist, academic, and Associate Professor of Classical Arabic Literature at Sultan Qaboos University. Holding a PhD in Classical Arabic Literature from the University of Edinburgh, Alharthi made global literary history as the first Arabic-language writer to win the Man Booker International Prize (2019) for her landmark novel Celestial Bodies (Sayyidat Al-Qamar). She is also the recipient of the French Prix de la Littérature Arabe (2021) and the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts, and Literature (2016) for Bitter Orange Tree (Naranjah). Celebrated for her intricate non-linear structures, rich psychological depth, and luminous, poetic prose, Alharthi’s widely translated works masterfully excavate the subtle social transformations of Oman, female agency, and the profound complexities of human memory and desire.