Radwa Ashour ( ar, رضوى عاشور) (26 May 1946 – 30 November 2014) was an Egyptian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Life

Ashour was born in

El-Manial El Manial ( , "'' the nilometer''") is a district of Cairo, located on Rhoda Island in the Nile. Prince Mohamed Ali Palace The El Manial Palace and garden estate was built for Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik between 1899 and 1929. The Prince ...

to Mustafa Ashour, a lawyer and literature enthusiast, and Mai Azzam, a poet and an artist. She graduated from

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

with a BA degree in 1967. In 1972, she received her MA in Comprehensive Literature from the same university. In 1975, Ashour graduated from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

with a PhD in African American Literature. Her dissertation was entitled The search for a Black poetics: a study of Afro-American critical writings. While preparing for her PhD, Ashour was remarked as the first doctoral candidate in English who studied the literature of the African-American. She taught at Ain Shams University, Cairo. Between 1969 and 1980, Ashour's mainly focused on studying, raising up her son and playing an active role as an activist. She married Palestinian poet

Mourid Barghouti Mourid Barghouti ( ar, مريد البرغوثي, ; 8 July 1944 – 14 February 2021) was a Palestinian poet and writer. Biography Barghouti was born in Deir Ghassana, near Ramallah, on the West Bank, in 8 July 1944. He studied English litera ...

in 1970. She gave birth to her son, poet

Tamim al-Barghouti Tamim Al-Barghouti ( ar, تميم البرغوثي) is a Palestinian-Egyptian poet, columnist and political scientist. Nicknamed the "poet of Jerusalem" (), he is one of the most widely read poets in the Arab World. Life Tamim al-Barghouti was ...

, in 1977. In that same year, Ashour's husband, Mourid Barghouthi was deported from Egypt to Hungary. As she and her son stayed in Cairo, they used to make frequent visits to Mourid. Ashour died on 30 November 2014 after months of long-term health problems.

Tribute

On 26 May 2018,

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commemorated Radwa Ashour's 72nd birthday.

Works

*''The Journey: Memoirs of an Egyptian Student in America'', 1983 *''Warm Stone'', 1985 *''Khadija and Sawsan'', 1989 *''I Saw the Date Palms'', short stories, 1989 * * * ''Specters'', Translated Barbara Romaine, Interlink Books, 2010, *''Al-Tantouria, 2010'' * *''Athqal Min Radwa, 2013'' ISBN 9789770932636 *
li Kull Al Mqhoorin Ajnih'a, 2019
'

As editor

Awards

*In 1994, Granada Trilogy won the year award of the

Cairo International Book Fair The Cairo International Book Fair is the largest and oldest book fair in the Arab world, held every year in the last week of January in Cairo, Egypt, at Egypt International Exhibitions Center in New Cairo, it is organised by the General Egyptian ...

*In 1995, Granada Trilogy won the prize of The First Arab Woman Book Fair in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

. *In 2007, Ashour won Constantine

Cavafy Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης ; April 29 (April 17, OS), 1863 – April 29, 1933), known, especially in English, as Constantine P. Cavafy and often published as C. P. Cavafy (), was a Gree ...

Prize for Literature *In 2011, Ashour won Owais Prize.

Translations of Ashour's Work

*Granada Trilogy was translated into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

*Siraj was translated into English. *Atyaaf was translated into Italian. *She has a number of short stories that were published in English, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and Spanish. Translated in Tamil by Dr. P. M. M. Irfan, August 2021

References

External links

Githa Hariharan in Conversation with Radwa Ashour and Ahdaf Souief
''Newsclick'', 6 April 2010

''Al Ahram'', Youssef Rakha, 27 January – 2 February 2000 *
Writing, Teaching, Living: Egyptian Novelist Radwa Ashour
''Arab Literature'', 19 March 2011 Egyptian novelists Egyptian women writers 1946 births 2014 deaths Writers from Cairo Cairo University alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Ain Shams University faculty 20th-century novelists 20th-century women writers {{Egypt-writer-stub