Fathia al-Assal ( ar , فتحية العسال , Fatḥīyah al-ʻAssāl , translit-std=ALA; February 20, 1933June 15, 2014) was an Egyptian playwright and activist. She was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. Her father did not allow her to receive any formal schooling but she later audited classes at the Screenplay Institute. She wrote plays for radio from 1957 until 1967, when she began writing television dramas. She also wrote five novels. Al-Assal wrote a total of 57 television series, including: * ''Rommanat Al Mezan'' * ''Shams Montasaf Al Lail'' ("Midnight Sun") * ''Hibal Min Hareer'' ("Silk Ropes") * ''Badr Al Budoor'' * ''Hiya wal Mosataheel'' ("She and the Impossible") * ''Hata La Yakhtaniq Al Hob'' ("So that Love Does Not Suffocate") She served on the board of the Egyptian Women Writers' Union and on the secretariat for the

National Progressive Unionist Party The National Progressive Unionist Party ( ar-at, حزب التجمع الوطني التقدمي الوحدوي, Ḥizb al-Tagammu' al-Watani al-Taqadomi al-Wahdawi, commonly referred to as Tagammu) is a socialist political party in Egypt. Origi ...

, also known as al-Tajammu'. She was president of the Egyptian Writers Association and general secretary of the Progressive Union of Women. She received a prize for theatre from the College of Liberal Arts at

Alexandria University Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...

. She received an award from Arab Television for her drama ''Hiya wal Mosataheel'' ("She and the Impossible"). Her work has been translated into Russian, French and Finnish. She married the radical playwright Abdallah Al-Toukhi. The couple has one daughter, Safaa El-Toukhi, who is a popular actress in Egyptian cinema and television since 1979. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Egyptian parliament in 1984, 1987 and 1995. She was arrested three times during the presidencies of

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

and

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

because of her activism. She died at the age of 81 after being treated at a military hospital in Cairo following an unspecified health crisis.

Selected work

* ''Nisa' bila Aqni'a'' ( ar , نسأ بلا اقنعة , Nisaʾ bilā Aqniʿah , translit-std=ALA , Women Without Masks), play (1981) * ''Al-Bayn bayn'' ("It Passes"), play (1989) * ''Sijn al-Nisa ( ar , سجن النسا , Sijn al-Nisāʾ , translit-std=ALA , The Women's Prison), play (1993) * ''Jawaz Safar'' ( ar , جواز سفر , Jawāz Safar , translit-std=ALA , lit=Passport, play (1997), first staged as ''al-Basbur'' * ''Hudn il-Umr'' ( arz , حضن العمر , Ḥuḍn il-ʿUmr , translit-std=ALA , lit=The Embrace of a Lifetime), autobiography, won the State Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assal, Fathia al- 1933 births 2014 deaths Egyptian women writers Egyptian dramatists and playwrights Egyptian women dramatists and playwrights Egyptian women's rights activists