Jokha Alharthi (left) posing for photo with translator Marilyn Booth — BBC LONDON, May 22 (BBC): Omani author Jokha Alharthi has won this year's Man Booker International Prize - the first Arabic writer to do so.
Her novel Celestial Bodies centres on the lives of three sisters and their families coming to terms with social changes in Oman.
Judges described it as "a richly imagined, engaging and poetic insight".
Alharthi shares the award of £50,000 ($63,000) with her translator, the American academic Marilyn Booth.
"I am thrilled that a window has been opened to the rich Arabic culture," Alharthi told journalists after the ceremony at the Roundhouse in London.
"Oman inspired me but I think international readers can relate to the human values in the book - freedom and love."
The award is also a big achievement for the publishers Sandstone Press, a small company in Dingwall, Scotland, with four full-time staff members and which puts out between 20 and 25 books per year.
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