Meet Man Booker International Prize winner Jokha Alharthi in Dubai

The author of 'Celestial Bodies' will be signing copies of her novel in Kinokuniya on June 14

Jokha Alharthi at the Man Booker International Prize ceremony in London last month. Getty Images 

Jokha Alharthi, who won the Man Booker International Prize last month for her novel, Celestial Bodies, will be signing copies of the book at the Kinokuniya book store in Dubai Mall on June 14.

Alharthi, who will be at Kinokuniya from 4.30pm until 6pm, is the first author from the Arabian Gulf to win the £50,000 (Dh233,465) award, which she shares with the translator, American academic Marilyn Booth.

Celestial Bodies, the first piece of Omani literature translated into English, is set in the Omani village of al-Awafi and orbits around the lives and loves of three sisters. The National's Marcia Lynx Qualey described Celestial Bodies, Alharthi's second novel, as "a densely woven, deeply imagined tour de force that follows Omani families between the 1880s and the early years of the 21st century".

Chair of the judges for this year’s Man Booker International Prize, said: “It avoids every stereotype you might expect in its analysis of gender and race and social distinction and slavery. There are surprises throughout. We fell in love with it.”

For more information about Alharthi's appearance in Dubai, visit the Kinokuniya Dubai Facebook page.