Bestselling poetry anthology back in print. Winner of the PEN Oakland Literary Award. Arab women poets work within one of the oldest literary traditions in the world, yet they are virtually unknown in the West. In assembling this collection, Nathalie Handal has compiled an outstanding, important treasury that introduces the poetry of Arab women living all over the world, writing in Arabic, French, English, and other languages, and including some of the twentieth century’s most accomplished poets as well as today’s most exciting new voices. Translated by distinguished translators and poets from around the world, The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology showcases the work of 83 poets, among them Etel Adnan, Andrée Chedid, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Fadwa Tuqan. With an illuminating introduction by Handal, and extensive biographies of both poets and translators, The Poetry of Arab Women sheds brilliant light on a hitherto under-recognized group of talented poets. Hold my hand and take me to the heart for I prefer your home, oh poetry. —excerpted from Small Sins by Maram Masri (Syria) Arab women poets work within one of the oldest literary traditions in the world, yet they are virtually unknown in the West. In assembling this collection, Nathalie Handal has compiled an outstanding, important treasury that introduces the poetry of Arab women living all over the world, writing in Arabic, French, English, and other languages, and including some of the twentieth century’s most accomplished poets as well as today’s most exciting new voices. Translated by distinguished translators and poets from around the world, The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology showcases the work of 82 poets, among them Etel Adnan, Andrée Chedid, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Fadwa Tuqan. With an illuminating introduction by Handal, and extensive biographies of both poets and translators, The Poetry of Arab Women sheds brilliant light on a hitherto under-recognized group of talented poets.

Arab women poets have been around since the earliest of times, yet their diwans (collected poems) were not given the same consideration as their male counterparts’. Spanning 5,000 years, from the pre-Islamic to the Andalusian periods, Classical Poems by Arab Women presents rarely seen work by over fifty women writers for the first time. From the sorrowful eulogies of Khansa to the gleeful scorn of Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, this collection exclusively features the work of Arab women who boldly refused to be silenced. The poems are excursions into their vibrant world whose humanity has been suppressed for centuries by religious and political bigotry. With poems in both English and Arabic, this remarkable anthology celebrates feminine wit and desire, and shows the significant contribution Arab women made to the literary tradition.

This is a compilation of poetry written by Arabic women poets from pre-Islamic times to the end of the Abbasid caliphate and Andalusia, and offers translations of over 200 poets together with literary commentary on the poets and their poetry. This critical anthology presents the poems of more than 200 Arabic women poets active from the 600s through the 1400s CE. It marks the first appearance in English translation for many of these poems. The volume includes biographical information about the poets, as well as an analysis of the development of women’s poetry in classical Arabic literature that places the women and the poems within their cultural context. The book fills a noticeable void in modern English-language scholarship on Arabic women, and has important implications for the fields of world and Arabic literature as well as gender and women’s studies. The book will be a fascinating and vital text for students and researchers in the fields of Gender Studies and Middle Eastern studies, as well as scholars and students of translation studies, comparative literature, literary theory, gender studies, Arabic literature, and culture and classics.

It is a little-known secret that Arabic literature has a long tradition of erotic writing. Behind that secret lies another – that many of the writers are women. We Wrote in Symbols celebrates the works of 75 of these female writers of Arab heritage who articulate love and lust with artistry and skill. Here, a wedding night takes an unexpected turn beneath a canopy of stars; a woman on the run meets her match in a flirtatious encounter at Dubai Airport; and a carnal awakening occurs in a Palestinian refugee camp. From a masked rendezvous in a circus, to meetings in underground bars and unmade beds, there is no such thing as a typical sexual encounter, as this electrifying anthology shows. Powerfully conveying the complexities and intrigues of desire, We Wrote in Symbols invites you to share these characters' wildest fantasies and most intimate moments. 'Fierce, captivating, revolutionary. A dazzling collection that will win hearts and change minds.'- Elif Shafak 'These voices are furious, witty, outrageous, tender and entranced. This collection offers much delightful entertainment and fresh perspectives on women and sex in the Middle East.'- Marina Warner

Consisting of sixty short stories by forty women writers from across the Arab world, this collection opens numerous windows onto Arab culture and society and offers keen insights into what Arab women feel and think. The stories deal not only with feminist issues but also with topics of a social, cultural, and political nature. Different styles and modes of writing are represented, along with a diversity of techniques and creative approaches, and the authors present many points of view and various ways of solving problems and confronting situations in everyday life. Lively, outspoken, and provocative, these stories are essential reading for anyone interested in the Arab world.

Arab women's writing in the modern age began with 'A'isha al-Taymuriya, Warda al-Yaziji, Zaynab Fawwaz, and other nineteenth-century pioneers in Egypt and the Levant. This unique study-first published in Arabic in 2004-looks at the work of those pioneers and then traces the development of Arab women's literature through the end of the twentieth century, and also includes a meticulously researched, comprehensive bibliography of writing by Arab women. In the first section, in nine essays that cover the Arab Middle East from Morocco to Iraq and Syria to Yemen, critics and writers from the Arab world examine the origin and evolution of women's writing in each country in the region, addressing fiction, poetry, drama, and autobiographical writing. The second part of the volume contains bibliographical entries for over 1,200 Arab women writers from the last third of the nineteenth century through 1999. Each entry contains a short biography and a bibliography of each author's published works. This section also includes Arab women's writing in French and English, as well as a bibliography of works translated into English. With its broad scope and extensive research, this book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in Arabic literature, women's studies, or comparative literature. Contributors: Emad Abu Ghazi, Radwa Ashour, Mohammed Berrada, Ferial J. Ghazoul, Subhi Hadidi, Haydar Ibrahim, Yumna al-'Id, Su'ad al-Mani', Iman al-Qadi, Amina Rachid, Huda al-Sadda, Hatim al-Sakr.