Mai Al-Nakib

was born in Kuwait and spent the first six years of her life in London, Edinburgh, and St. Louis, Missouri. Mai holds a PhD in English literature from Brown University and, for twenty years, taught English and Comparative Literature as Associate Professor at Kuwait University. Her academic research and publications have focused on cultural politics in Kuwait and the Middle East more broadly, with a special emphasis on citizenship, feminism, and postcolonial issues.

Her short story collection, The Hidden Light of Objects, was published by Bloomsbury in 2014 and reissued by Saqi Books in 2025. It won the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award. Her debut novel, An Unlasting Home, was published by Mariner Books in the US and Saqi Books in the UK. Her short stories, poetry, and occasional essays have appeared in various publications, including Ninth Letter, The First Line, After the Pause, World Literature Today, Rowayat, The Markaz Review, and the BBC World Service. She lives and writes in Kuwait.