"An immense, indispensable resource."—CHOICE, Named an Outstanding Academic Title Selection

"As a women's studies librarian, I treasure this guide as a reference tool."—Feminist Collections

An invaluable reference source and critical review of Arab women writers from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, new in paperback

Arab women’s writing in the modern age began with ‘A’isha al-Taymuriya, Warda al-Yaziji, Zaynab Fawwaz, and other nineteenth-century pioneers in Egypt and the Levant. This unique study—first published in Arabic in 2004—looks at the work of those pioneers and then traces the development of Arab women’s literature through the end of the twentieth century, and also includes a meticulously researched, comprehensive bibliography of writing by Arab women.

In the first section, in nine essays that cover the Arab Middle East from Morocco to Iraq and Syria to Yemen, critics and writers from the Arab world examine the origin and evolution of women’s writing in each country in the region, addressing fiction, poetry, drama, and autobiographical writing.

The second part of the volume contains bibliographical entries for over 1,200 Arab women writers from the last third of the nineteenth century through 1999. Each entry contains a short biography and a bibliography of each author’s published works. This section also includes Arab women’s writing in French and English, as well as a bibliography of works translated into English.

With its broad scope and extensive research, this book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in Arabic literature, women’s studies, or comparative literature.

Contributors:

Emad Abu Ghazi, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Radwa Ashour (1946–2014), Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Mohammed Berrada, novelist and critic, Beirut, Lebanon

Hoda Elsadda, Women and Memory Forum, Cairo, Egypt,

Ferial J. Ghazoul, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

Subhi Hadidi, critic, researcher, and translator, Paris, France

Haidar Ibrahim, sociologist and critic, Cairo, Egypt

Yumna al-‘Id, critic, Beirut, Lebanon

Su‘ad al-Mana, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Iman al-Qadi, critic, UAE

Amina Rachid (1938–2021), Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Hasna Reda-Mekdashi, publisher, Beirut, Lebanon

Hatem M. al-Sager, critic, Nashville, Tennessee, USA