May Ziade: The Life of an Arab Feminist Writer, Al Jazeera World

Marie Elias Ziade, or May, was a key LebanesePalestinian figure in the Arab literary scene in the early 20th century who firmly established herself as a vibrant female voice in what was clearly a man s world at the time. She was a journalist but also wrote fiction with strong female characters, poetry, political and cultural books and magazine articles, often on the condition of Arab women. She questioned the social norms and cultural values of the period; in trying to tackle Arab patriarchy wrote: We chant beautiful words in of freedom and liberty. If you, men of the East, keep the core of slavery in your homes, represented by your wives and daughters, will the children of slaves be free Women s education was rare, if nonexistent, explains Lebanese poet Henry Zugheib. When she joined this literary circle, she was highly cultured, not just from what she learned at school but also from the books she read. That s why educating women