13 Amazing Women of Arabia
The book collects thirteen Arab women and tells their stories, written by a twelve-year-old for readers of roughly her own age. Its subject is the choice that makes it interesting: not a fantasy, not a children's story about animals, but a set of biographies from her own region.
Emirates Woman announced it in October 2018 as the work of the UAE's youngest author. That phrasing is a press description rather than a certified record — no register of authors' ages exists in the Emirates to check it against — and it should be read as the magazine's characterisation of an unusually young writer.
Training with NASA at nine
The detail that preceded the book was reported as the youngest Emirati to train with NASA, at the age of nine. NASA and its associated centres run structured programmes for school students and international visitors, and participation in one of these is a very different thing from employment by the agency.
The sources used here do not describe which programme she took part in, how long it lasted, or what it involved. The claim is recorded as reported. What it establishes is a family and an education pointed hard at science from a young age, which is the context the book sits in.
A sibling on the same track
Her brother Adeeb Al Balooshi had his own record of early achievement, and both were enrolled at the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles. Both were also reported to have presented research at the National Graphene Institute in Manchester.
Two children in one family on the same accelerated international track is, as in most such cases, the strongest available evidence that the pattern is a family project rather than a spontaneous individual talent. That does not diminish the work; it locates it.
Where Dana Al Balooshi is now
The reporting used here dates from October 2018, when she was 12. It does not follow her afterwards: no further books, no course of study, no current position is documented in this record.
Her exact date of birth is not published in these sources either; the birth year given here is inferred from her stated age in 2018. She is a young adult now, and this page holds to what was published while she was a child.
Why very young authors get announced this way
Youngest-author claims are among the most common and least regulated records in publishing. The barrier is not the writing but the publication, and once self-publishing and short-run printing became cheap the age of the youngest published author began to fall steadily, which is why such claims are now made and superseded frequently.
The useful questions about any such book are therefore what it is and what it took, not what age record it set. In this case the answers are specific: thirteen biographies of Arab women, written by a twelve-year-old in a household where scientific training abroad was already routine, and published in a market that treated it as national news.
Watch: Dana Al Balooshi on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlDhabi Rashed AlMheiri | United Arab Emirates | Five days short of her eighth birthday, she published in two languages | Age 0 |
| Bryan Patrick | United States | He typed it himself over a month, and by April 1,015 copies had sold | Age 4 |
| Ayan Gogoi Gohain | India | Named India's youngest author at four, for 'Honeycomb' | Age 4 |
| AlMaha Rashed AlMheiri | United Arab Emirates | Two books about the environment, more than a thousand copies in a day, and | Age 4 |
| Dana Al Balooshi | United Arab Emirates | Publishing '13 Amazing Women of Arabia' at 12 | Age 12 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Published '13 Amazing Women of Arabia' at 12, reported by Emirates Woman in October 2018
- Reported as the youngest Emirati to train with NASA at the age of nine
- Enrolled with her brother Adeeb at the Charter College of Education, Cal State LA; both reported to have presented research at the National Graphene Institute, Manchester
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No exact date of birth published; the birth year here is inferred from her stated age
- The 'youngest author' and 'youngest to train with NASA' claims are press descriptions, not certified records
- No reporting found on her writing, studies or work after 2018
Questions people ask about Dana Al Balooshi
What book did Dana Al Balooshi write?
13 Amazing Women of Arabia, a collection of biographies of Arab women, published when she was 12.
Is she the UAE's youngest author?
Emirates Woman described her that way in 2018. No register of authors' ages exists to certify the claim, so it is a press description rather than a verified record.
Did she work for NASA?
No. She was reported as the youngest Emirati to train with NASA at nine. That describes participation in a programme, not employment by the agency, and the sources used here do not say which programme.
How old is Dana Al Balooshi?
She was 12 in 2018, which places her birth in about 2006. No exact date of birth appears in the sources used here.
Who is Adeeb Al Balooshi?
Her brother, who followed a parallel path. Both were enrolled at the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles.
Where is Dana Al Balooshi now?
No source used here reports anything about her after October 2018. Later books, studies or work are not documented in this record.
Is Dana Al Balooshi on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article on her was found. The account used here is Emirates Woman's 2018 report.
Has she written other books?
No further titles appear in the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Dana’s story?
What is the title of Dana Al Balooshi's book?
How old was she when it was published?
What was she reported to have done at nine?
Sources
- The UAE's youngest author to publish a new book — Emirates Woman, 2018-10-03
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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