Laila al-Othman is a Kuwaiti writer, novelist, short story writer, and a famous fictionist who was born into a prominent Kuwaiti family in 1943, and only 22 years later she made her writing debut in a local newspaper featuring her opinion on social and literary issues.
16 Facts About Laila al-Othman
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Laila al-Othman, is the fourth girl of the family, she was born in 1943 in Kuwait at a small seaside town.
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Sometime in her childhood, her parents divorced, and al-Othman ended up living with her father and step-sisters.
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Laila al-Othman was negatively labeled "the daughter of the first wife" and was mistreated by her stepmother and step-siblings.
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Laila al-Othman's father ignored her and he remained absent for most of her early life.
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Laila al-Othman began drawing on walls as a source of solace from her turmoils.
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Laila al-Othman moved out of her father's house in 1965 and was truly free for the first time.
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Laila al-Othman's husband was supportive of her writings and encouraged her to publish them.
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Simultaneously, Laila al-Othman's father tried to prevent her from publishing, but when he died shortly after her marriage her name appeared in many newspapers and publications.
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Laila al-Othman began writing for a daily column in the Al-Siyasah newspaper.
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Laila al-Othman was banished from Kuwait after Kuwait gained back its freedom from Iraq.
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Laila al-Othman recounted these painful memories in many of her written pieces including Ayyam Fi al-Yaman and Yawmiyyat as-Sabr wa al-Murr.
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Laila al-Othman is against Islamists, they have filed lawsuits against her.
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Laila al-Othman is analyzing the Arab world and does not plan to write a novel on it any time soon.
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Laila al-Othman has stated that she is working on a new novel that focuses on her forgotten neighborhood of Kuwait.
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Laila al-Othman recently made a trip to Beirut for a book signing to promote her new book Aba'at Al-Maqam.