Jokha Alharthi

Biography

Jokha Alharthi is an Omani novelist, scholar, and Associate Professor at Sultan Qaboos University. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. In 2019, she became the first Arabic-language author to win the Man Booker International Prize for her novel Celestial Bodies (Sayyidat al-Qamar).

Alharthi is the author of four novels, four short-story collections, and three children’s books. Her works have been translated into more than 26 languages. She has also published three academic books and several scholarly articles on Arabic literature.

Her literary awards include the Arabic Literature Prize from the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris, 2021), the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature (Muscat, 2016), and a Royal Commendation – Second Class (Oman, 2024). She was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize (Edinburgh, 2023) and the Sheikh Zayed Award for Young Author (2011), and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award (2023).

Alharthi has participated in major literary festivals and academic conferences worldwide.

Current Projects

The Wasted Literary Text
The Poetics of Ibn ‘Umairah’s Fakihat ibn al-Sabil (Fruits for the Wayfarer) and Ibn Butlan’s Da‘wat al-Atibba’ (The Doctors’ Dinner Party)

Educational Background

2011: PhD in classical Arabic literature– University of Edinburgh

Research Interests

Classical Arabic literature including poetry and narrative, Children Arabic literature, travel Arabic literature

Recent publications

Alharthi, J. (2026). The evolution of the love story in classical Arabic literature: Al-Muraqqish al-Akbar and ʿUrwah ibn Ḥizām as models of pining lovers. Middle Eastern Literatures, 28(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475262X.2025.2559586
Alharthi, J. (2024). The Theme of Marriage in the ʿUdhrī Tradition. Almarkaz: Journal of Arabic Studies, 3(1), 19-40. https://doi.org/10.1163/27728250-12340035
Silken Gazelles, Catapult, 2024, NY. Translated by Marilyn Booth.
Bitter Orange Tree, Catapult, 2022, NY. Translated by Marilyn Booth
The Body in Arabic Love Poetry, Udhri Tradition, University of Edinburgh Press, 2021. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/media/resources/9781474486361_The_B...