Kuwaiti author wins international award

October 30, 2014

Manama: Kuwaiti author Mai Al Nakib has won the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s 2014 First Book Award.

Her book, The Hidden Light of Objects, is a collection of short stories that explore the private struggles of adolescence, marriage and middle age by taking a quiet look at the lives of ordinary people living in the Middle East, the Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing (BQFP), that published her debut work, said.

Mai’s debut literary work, written in English, features stories ranging from the invasion of Kuwait to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the US occupation of Iraq.

This is the first time the award has been given to a collection of short stories and only the second time it has been granted to an international writer.