Qatar's first female published author

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

In 1978, Kaltham Jaber published her first book – a collection of short stories. She is an assistant professor and acclaimed writer from Qatar. Her success as an author came just two decades after girls were first allowed to go to school in the oil-rich state. Kaltham became a really important figurehead for women in the country as she campaigned for gender equality. She shares her story with Matt Pintus. (Photo: Kaltham Jaber. Credit: Kaltham Jaber)

Transcript

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0:00.0	My Indian Life is back for Season 3, the podcast that explores what it means to be
0:04.8	young and Indian in the 21st century. With guests from all walks of life,
0:09.1	singing is a part of storytelling for me. I need to tell my story to the world.
0:12.8	And from all across this huge country. So as a tribe, we are not mere part of nature,
0:18.4	but we are nature, each with a story to tell.
0:21.3	Winning the gold medal in Paralympics was a dream.
0:24.0	That's Kalki presents My Indian Life from the BBC World Service.
0:27.5	Just search for My Indian Life wherever you found this podcast.
0:36.1	Hello and welcome to this episode of The Witness History Podcast
0:39.4	from the BBC World Service with me, Matt Pintas. On today's programme, we're going back
0:44.8	to 1970s Qatar, where one woman's determination to be heard,
0:50.1	led her to become in the country's first ever female published author.
0:58.0	It's 1978 in the Qatari capital city of Doha.
1:03.1	20-year-old Kaltan Jabir is waiting to hear what the reaction to her
1:08.0	anthology of short stories will be.
1:10.0	The problem was with a passage from a short story within the book.
1:15.7	I originally had it published in Saudi Arabia and there was no problem,
1:20.2	but then it was republished in Qatar.
1:22.4	There were question marks raised about some of the descriptions.
1:26.1	I wasn't prepared to take out what I had written.
1:29.1	Kaltan is worried about an intimate scene in one of her stories
1:32.7	and how it will be received. This is the passage in question.
	...

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