Oman's Jokha Alharthi became the first Arabic-languageauthor to win the Man Booker International Prize for her book 'CelestialBodies'.

The book narrates the story of three sisters of a desertcountry fighting its slave-owning past and the complexities of the modernworld.

"Celestial Bodies is a book to win over the head andheart in equal measure," said historian Bettany Hughes, who led thejudging panel.

Alharthi will split her prize money 50000 pounds (64,000USD) with Marilyn Booth- her UK-base translator.

Jokha Alharthi is the first female Omani novelist to betranslated into English.

It may be mentioned here that Man Booker International Prize is a counterpart to the Man Booker Prize, where the former is open to books in any language translated into English whereas the latter is open for English-language novels.