It’s 8.30pm. Author Jokha Alharthi is exhausted after two public talks and a long book signing session at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, held last month in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. “Just too many people,” she says.
Yet, the Arabic writer eagerly meets a young, heavily pregnant fan who had made a long trip to the festival just to meet her. “Such interactions are heart-warming,” says the 1978-born author from Oman, as she settles down to talk about Arabic literature, her award-winning novels and managing her time as a mother, teacher and a writer.
In 2019, Alharthi became the first Arab to win the prestigious International Booker Prize, for her novel Celestial Bodies, along with the book’s English translator Marilyn Booth. The book is centred on three sisters and their love and longing in Oman. Her Her second novel, Bitter Orange Tree, has been long-listed for the Dublin Literary Award, the winner of which will be announced in May. Alharthi has also written children’s stories, short stories and two other novels.
Since her International Booker win, Alharthi has attended literary events around the world. “Sometimes, it’s overwhelming. To write, you have to be isolated. If you are constantly attending events, it’s hard to concentrate on your project,” says Alharthi, who is an associate professor of Arabic language and literature at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat.
As a teacher, who must interact with people every day, and a mother of three, Alharthi craves quiet time when she can read and write. “If I can’t find the time to read and write, I will collapse."
So, very early in her life she decided to only attend selective family gatherings. “I am not a sociable person. I avoid social demands,” she says. “We Omanis have big families and many celebrations, but I attend very few.
“People get used to it and stop inviting you, which is a good thing.”
Even as a child, Alharthi prioritised reading over anything else. She recalls escaping the many guests in her home and household chores, running away to her grandfather’s home to peacefully read her books. “I was 10 years old when I devoured Agatha Christie’s books,” she says.
At 12, she read 10th-century Baghdadi poet Abu Al Faraj Al Isfahani’s Kitab al-Aghani (The Book of Songs). The encyclopaedic collection of poems and songs has more than 20 volumes across 10,000 pages, with 16,000 verses of Arabic poetry, which the author said took him 50 years to write. “The book is full of social and cultural anecdotes that may not have been suitable reading material for a 12-year-old, but it didn’t harm me. The book shaped my understanding of Arabic literature.”
Her love for writing began with her diaries, followed by writing short stories in college. She also wrote while pursuing her PhD in Scotland, which also became a means for her to cope with homesickness. “My first year in the UK was quite challenging. Everything was new and unknown including the cold weather,” she says. “I couldn’t connect with people initially, and was faced with the challenge of writing in English for the very first time and that, too, a PhD thesis. But writing fiction in Arabic helped me. It was a refuge, an escape from my problems.”
But as time went by, things got easier. “I realised that the distance from my country helped me see it in better light. It made me understand things about my country, which I was too close to grasp while living there.”
Bitter Orange Tree, published in May last year, is also set in Oman. It illustrates its central characters in the background of the country’s transformation from a traditional, rural country to a modern, prosperous state in the early 1970s.
Grandmother Bint Amir’s life of hardships, being abandoned by her father and stepmother owing to not having enough food, living with an adopted family and serving them all their lives, damaging one of her eyes with traditional medicines and then trying to fix it through modern medicines, speaks volumes of life in Oman during the transformation.
The inspiration for Amir’s granddaughter Zuhour seems to have come from Alharthi’s own life. While studying in the UK, she realises that Amir, an uneducated but smart and determined matriarch, was one of the most important people in her life. But Alharthi insists that her characters feel and think differently from her. Yet, she admits to enduring their agony and frustrations. “The process of writing is inseparable from suffering. I have to empathise with my characters to understand how they think and feel. It is hard to write about these things, but at the same time, it’s also amazing to discover new worlds.”
Her worlds are grim, layered with intense, dark emotions and, at times, are disturbing. Her writing details the deep mental anguish of her characters, especially women.
“Mental health for women around the world is a big issue,” says Alharthi, who grew up in a large family with eight sisters and four brothers. She has heard, first-hand, stories of many women across generations.
“These women have so many responsibilities on their shoulders. They are expected to be a perfect wife, a perfect mother and a perfect employee. It’s too much to expect from a woman, and can be exhausting,” she says. “We need to be more tolerant towards mothers and ourselves and ensure that women seek help and enough help is available to them.”
If you go:
Getting there:
Flying to Guyana requires first reaching New York with either Emirates or Etihad, then connecting with JetBlue or Caribbean Air at JFK airport. Prices start from around Dh7,000.
Getting around:
Wildlife Worldwide offers a range of Guyana itineraries, such as its small group tour, the 15-day ‘Ultimate Guyana Nature Experience’ which features Georgetown, the Iwokrama Rainforest (one of the world’s four remaining pristine tropical rainforests left in the world), the Amerindian village of Surama and the Rupununi Savannah, known for its giant anteaters and river otters; wildlifeworldwide.com
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Brave CF 27 fight card
Welterweight:
Abdoul Abdouraguimov (champion, FRA) v Jarrah Al Selawe (JOR)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (TUN) v Alex Martinez (CAN)
Welterweight:
Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA) v Khamzat Chimaev (SWE)
Middleweight:
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Rustam Chsiev (RUS)
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) v Christofer Silva (BRA)
Super lightweight:
Alex Nacfur (BRA) v Dwight Brooks (USA)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) v Tariq Ismail (CAN)
Chris Corton (PHI) v Zia Mashwani (PAK)
Featherweight:
Sulaiman (KUW) v Abdullatip (RUS)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) v Mohammad Al Katib (JOR)
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
DMZ facts
- The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
- It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
- The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
- It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
- Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
- Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012.
- Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
The years Ramadan fell in May
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The years Ramadan fell in May
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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The five pillars of Islam
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The years Ramadan fell in May
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