Top 5 Female Arab Writers: A Middle Eastern Literature Preview

We highlight the best of the female Arab writers in contemporary literature; Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim discusses writing on sensitive topics in the Middle East; A book as a docking station? Why not.

Mother of the Arab feminist female writers: Nawal El Sadaawi is one of the female Arab writers in this countdown. (Image source:

Sugar Street Review [2]

Top Five Female Arab Writers

"We have decided to put together a list of our five favourite women novelists from the Arab world. For a number of reasons, but mainly my inability to read anything other than basic Arabic, we have limited ourselves to writers whose works are published in English too."

Arabic Literature (in English) [3]

Sonallah Ibrahim on Writing about Sex & How He Constructs Novels

Sonallah Ibrahim talks novels and writing about that most sensitive topic of all- Sex. Here are snippets of his interview. "There’s a lengthy Q&A with Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim in Banipal 43, which just arrived at my PO box. The wide-ranging interview, conducted by AUC history professor Camilo Gomez-Rivas, opens with politics, but meanders interestingly through Ibrahim’s inspirations and creative process."

Design Fetish [4]

iNovel

Have you ever looked at a book and thought, "Hey, that would be a great docking station"? If you're that random, you're in luck. Here's a classic literary book that functions as an aesthetically pleasing (if slightly odd looking) fixture in your house and as a docking station. Hooray for innovation.