Nawal El Saadawi
A graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University, Nawal el-Saadawi has emerged as a leading international feminist, writer and activist with publications translated into over ten European languages as well as into Japanese, Indonesian, Persian and Turkish.
El Saadawi's experiences in practrising general medicine and psychiatry in both rural and urban Egypt inspire much of her writing. Her candid discussions of the sexual exploitation and experiences of women, most notably in "Women and Sex", 1969, led to her dismissal
from the Ministry of Health and tehn to imprisonment under Sadat in 1981. This latter experience was to inspire her 1984 work "memoirs from the Women's Prison." El-Saadawi's determination to continue the struggle for women in her country has been met with much public and
private hardship and oppression. The stress of living through two abusive marriages appears only to have strengthened her determination. The fact that el-Saadawi's name is today to be found on the death lists of a number of organizations has done nothing to stifle her voice. Having faced the government closure of two of her own magazines, "Health and Noon, el-Saadawi is currently President of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, an organization which she
founded in 1982, which has also been subjected to much government intervention. El-Saadawi's autobiography,"Auraqi Hayati" (My Life's Papers) 1995, is now available. With over twenty-four books published along with a number of short stories, plays and personal memoirs, el-Saadawi has been awarded a string of literary honours, including the Literary Award by the Supreme Council for the Arts and Social Sciences in 1974, the Literary Award of Gubran and the ARab
Association of australia Award both awarded in 1988. Her recent works include, "The Fall of the Imam, (1987), "Memoirs of a Child Called Soad" (1990), "Ganat and the Devil" (1991) and "Love in the Kingdom of Oil" (1993).