In May last year “Celestial Bodies” became the first Arabic-language translation to win the Man Booker International Prize. That might never have happened if its Omani author, Jokha Alharthi, had not gifted translator Marilyn Booth a copy of the Arabic original, and if Booth in turn had not done what she advises other translators against: translated the book without first having secured a publisher for the effort. “I read it ...