Widad Sakakini ( ar, وداد سكاكيني; 1913–1991) was a writer and critic from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Life

Sakakini was born in

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

(now Lebanon) in 1913 and studied under the theologian Mustapha Al-Ghalayini in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. She wrote for the literary weekly '' al-Makshouf'' before marrying poet Zaki Mahasin in 1932 and moving to

Mandatory Syria The First Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic, '; french: République syrienne was formed in 1930 as a component of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, succeeding the State of Syria. A treaty of independence was made in 1936 to ...

. There she wrote for her husband's newspaper, '' al-Muqtabas''. She published her first book, ''Maraya al-nas'' in 1945, which may be the first published collection of short stories by an Arab woman. 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. 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 )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. She suffers many persecutions before obtaining vengeance. Sakakini intended for the book to illuminate the "slander and abasement that women have endured" in Arab society. In total, Sakakini published five collection of short stories, two novels, and numerous essays, article and criticisms.

Works

* ''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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakakini, Widad 1913 births 1991 deaths People from Sidon Lebanese novelists Lebanese women writers Lebanese women novelists Lebanese women short story writers Lebanese short story writers Syrian novelists Syrian women writers Syrian women novelists Syrian women short story writers Syrian short story writers 20th-century Lebanese women writers 20th-century Lebanese writers 20th-century Syrian women writers 20th-century Syrian writers 20th-century short story writers