Latifa al-Zayyat

Latifa al-Zayyat (Arabic: لطيفة الزيات‎) (8 August 1923 – 10 September 1996)[1][2] was an Egyptian activist and writer, most famous for her novel The Open Door, which won the inaugural Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.[3]

Latifa al-Zayyat
Born(1923-08-08)August 8, 1923
Dumyat, Egypt
DiedSeptember 10, 1996(1996-09-10) (aged 73)
Cairo, Egypt
NationalityEgyptian
Alma materCairo University
Known forThe Open Door and The Owner of the House

Biography

Al Zayyat was born in Dumyat, Egypt, on 8 August 1923.[1] She earned her bachelor's degree in English in 1946 from Cairo University and earned her PhD at the same university in 1957.[4] She was, with Inji Efflatoun, a founding member in 1945 of the Rabitat Fatayat al jami'at wa al ma'ahid (The League of University and Institutes' Young Women).[5]

She was a professor of English at the Girls College of Ain Shams University and the chair of the department of English at the same university.[4] She also served as the director of the Egyptian Arts Academy.[4]

Two of al-Zayyat's novels are translated to English, The Owner of the House and The Open Door. The latter, published in 1960, was strikingly modern for its time, both for its use of colloquial Egyptian Arabic and for its depiction of the main character's political and sexual awakening. The novel begins in 1946 and ends in 1956, with the Suez Crisis. It was also turned into a popular film.[2] Al-Zayyat also wrote many essays on women and critiques as well as reviews of novels and political happenings.

She died of cancer at age 73 in Cairo on 10 September 1996.[1]

Tribute

On August 8, 2015, Google dedicated a Doodle to the writer for the 92nd anniversary of her birth. The Doodle reached all the countries of the Arab World.[6]

References
  1. Amal Amireh (October 1996). "Remembering Latifa al-Zayyat". Al Jadid. 2 (12). Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  2. Johnson-Davis, Denys, ed. (2006). The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction. p. 462. ISBN 1-4000-7976-4.
  3. "The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature". The American University in Cairo Press. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  4. "Biography". Latifa Al Zayyat website. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  5. Smith, Bonnie G. (2000). Global feminisms since 1945. Psychology Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-415-18491-5.
  6. "Latifa al-Zayyat's 92nd Birthday". 8 August 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
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