Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
With the days getting cooler and amidst a muted festive season compared to last year, more and more of us are seeking solace in books this holiday season.
Some may even be looking for a great gift for the book-lover during the holidays. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of great books to emerge from Bahrain’s literati.
While we have endeavoured to highlight books published this year, we have also included a few from the past that continue to strike a chord amidst the pandemic.
Six of these authors are based in Bahrain and showcase incredible talent. We also picked one which is set in Bahrain because of the key period in the country’s modern history it novelises.
Visions of a Blue Moon
Author: Bedoor Khalaf
First published: 2020
About: Vision of a Blue Moon is a short story collection that ranges in topics from love and loss to social challenges and personal growth. Whether you are in need of a daily dose of something to think about or an inspirational boost, a world of stories awaits that is sometimes closer to us than we imagine.
Bedoor Khalaf is a Bahraini poet and author of short stories and children books. Her passion for writing started at a very young age and she saw poetry as the perfect means to describe her emotions and make sense of life as she saw it.
Available: Amazon
Iridescence
Author: Arnab Sengupta
First published: 2020
Genre: Poetry
About: Iridescence is a collection of 50 poems, reflective of themes that have come to play an important role in the 14-year-old author’s life over the last year. The collection of poems reflects some of his rawest emotions and is divided into four themes - the hidden world, the blues, hope and relationships.
The foreword has been written by James Murphy, chief executive of The B Sustainable and the editor of Future of Earth magazine, who notes that the 14-year-old is “a young man with an incredibly bright future, but more importantly, a young man that we can learn from in the present.”
Available: WH Smith at The Avenues and City Centre.
Between the Stars
Author: Reem Alomari
First published: 2017
Genre: Poetry, Interactive
About: Between The Stars is a collection of thoughts, fictional anecdotes and blackout poetry. It is more than just reading material. It is an interactive tool for readers that will allow them to pour their unfiltered feelings into creative writing, illustrations, drawings and more! Each copy will be unique, individualised and customised by the reader and for the reader.
Available: Amazon, Neo Books & Coffee
Titanlord: A Thousand Ashes
Author: MG Darwish
First published: 2020
Genre: Fantasy
About: A direct sequel to Titanlord: Of Death & Sacrifice, this continues the story of Griffyn who has been entrusted with the only sword that allows him to fight the gods and stop them from eliminating humanity.
He has endured many losses, but will he succumb and accept his fate? Or will he rise from beneath a thousand ashes? To win, he must quell the Titans within him and tame them. But every time he uses their power, he risks losing himself.
Available: Neo Books & Coffee, Amazon
Sara and Sami’s Magical Adventures
Author: Coryn Middleton
First published: 2020
Genre: Children’s literature
About: The sequel to Sara and Her Magic Abaya features the siblings travelling around the world and getting up to a series of fun activities such as feeding pandas in China, climbing the Eiffel Tower in France, visiting Petra in Jordan and more.
Coryn’s books were inspired by her love for travelling as well as learning about diverse cultures and traditions. She hopes her books will inspire the next generation of travellers as well as youngsters to explore the world.
Available: Neo Books & Coffee
Dissensus
Author: Khalifa Al Khalifa
First published: 2018
Genre: Thriller
About: A techno-thriller, that seems more prescient this year than ever, Dissensus tells the story of a World Health Organisation doctor, a marketing executive, and computer hacker Johan Nilsson who tries to stop one of the world’s rich and powerful from unveiling a vaccine that grants immortality through genetic manipulation that may destroy humanity.
Aiding them is an unlikely ally: Aaron Anderson, a young Silicon Valley entrepreneur who secretly runs an underground counter-bioterrorism organisation called the House of Wisdom and who has injected himself with a vial of the vaccine.
Available: Amazon, Neo Books & Coffee
The Meeting Point
Author: Lucy Caldwell
First published: 2011
Genre: Fiction, Novel
About: Compelling and passionate, The Meeting Point is a novel about idealism and innocence, about the unexpected turns life can take and the dangers and chances that await us. It tells the story of a couple, Euan and Ruth, who move to Bahrain with their young daughter. Far from home, and with events spiralling towards war in nearby Iraq, each must make choices that could change all of their lives for ever.
Lucy is an award-winning Northern Irish author, former RLF Fellow, visiting fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.
Available: Amazon
