Widad Sakakini

Sakakini was born in Sidon, Ottoman Syria (now Lebanon) in 1913 and studied under the theologian Mustapha Al-Ghalayini in Beirut.[1] She wrote for the literary weekly al-Makshouf before marrying poet Zaki Mahasin in 1932 and moving to Mandatory Syria.[1] There she wrote for her husband's newspaper, al-Muqtabas.[1]

She published her first book, Maraya al-nas in 1945, which may be the first published collection of short stories by an Arab woman.[1][2] She achieved another first in 1949 with the publication of her first novel, Arwa bint al-khutub, described as the first true novel published by an Arab woman.[2] The novel tells the story of a woman, Arwa, who is falsely accused of adultery by her husband's brother. She is convicted by a judge, stoned, and banished from Damascus. She suffers many persecutions before obtaining vengeance.[2] Sakakini intended for the book to illuminate the "slander and abasement that women have endured" in Arab society.[2]

In total, Sakakini published five collection of short stories, two novels, and numerous essays, article and criticisms.[2]

• Maraya al-nas (People's Mirrors), 1945.
• Bayn ai-Nil wa-I-nakhil (Between the Nile and the Palm Tree), 1947.
• al-Hubb al-muharram (Forbidden Love), 1947.
• Arwa bint al-khutub (Arwa, Daughter of Woe), 1949.
• al-Sitar al-marfu' (The Raised Curtain), 1955.
• Nufus tatakallmn (Souls Speak), 1962.
• Aqwa min al-sinin (Stronger Than the Years), 1978.