Laila Al-Uthman has published 14 short story collections and nine novels. Her work has been translated into French, Spanish, Yugoslavian, Polish, Russian, German and Albanian. The Arab Writers Union named her second novel, Wasmiyya Comes out of the Sea (1988), among the best 100 Arabic novels of all time. In 2004, Al-Othman established the Laila Al-Othman Award for Young Creative Talent in Fiction, which seeks to encourage young Kuwaiti writers.