Kuwaiti Author Al Essa Explores Blurred Lines Between Reality & Imagination

Bothayna Al Essa is a best-selling Kuwaiti author of nearly a dozen novels and several children's books. She is also the founder of Taqwin, a bookshop and publishing house known for its critically acclaimed titles. Her most recent novel, The Book Censor’s Library, won the Sharjah Award for Creativity in the Novel category in 2021 and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Best Books of 2024. It is her third novel to appear in English, following Lost in Mecca and All That I Want to Forget.

In 2023, she served as the author-in-residence at the British Centre for Literary Translation. She is also a two-time recipient of Kuwait's National Encouragement Award (2003 and 2012), has published books on writing, and regularly leads writing workshops across the Arab world.