Widad Sakakini
  • Gender:Female
  • Year of Birth:1913, Lebanon
  • Year of Death:1991
  • Citizen of:Lebanon
Biography

Widad Sakakini (1913–1991) was a writer and critic from Lebanon. She
was born in Sidon, Lebanon, Ottoman Empire in 1913 and studied under the theologian Mustapha Al-Ghalayini in Beirut. She wrote for the literary weekly al-Makshouf before marrying poet Zaki Mahasin in 1932 and moving to Syria. 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. 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.
 

Published works
  • Bayn ai-Nil wa-I-nakhil (Between the Nile and the Palm Tree), By (author), Dar El Fikr Elarabi, 1946, Book
  • Nufus tatakallmn (Souls Speak), By (author), Dar Al Maarif, 1962, Book
  • al-Sitar al-marfu' (The Raised Curtain), By (author), Dar Al Qawmiya Publications and Distribution, 1962, Book

This profile was created by: دعاء خضر الخليفة