Emily Daoud Nasrallah (née Abi Rached; July 6, 1931 – March 13, 2018)[1] was a Lebanese writer and women's rights activist. She graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1958 with a BA in education and literature, but soon achieved acclaim for her writing with the publication of her first novel, Birds of September, in 1962. The book earned her instant praise and three Arabic literary prizes.
She became a prolific writer, publishing many novels, children's stories and short story collections touching on themes such as family, village life, war, emigration and women’s rights. The latter was a subject she has maintained support for throughout her life.[2][3]
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Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Emily Daoud Abi Rached was born in the small village of al-Kfeir (at the western foot of Mount Hermon in southern Lebanon) on 6 July 1931 to Loutfa, née Abou Nasr and her husband Daoud Abi Rached. The eldest of six children, she grew up working in the village fields with her parents; an experience that would have later echoes in her writings. She watched the village emptying and family members emigrating in search for greener pastures especially that the village offered feeble educational and professional prospects.[4] Kfeir’s public school only received students at the age of six but the four-year-old's passion for learning drove her to eavesdrop on the classes, the school being adjacent to her parental home. She used to recite the poems and stories she heard to her father and his friends.[5][2] Her maternal uncle Ayub Abou Nasr, a fellow of the New York Pen League took special interest in her education when he returned from emigration due to a neurological illness; he quickly recognized her talent and encouraged her learning. He would often ask her to write descriptive essays – of Mount Hermon for example – which helped broaden her imagination and further her writing skills.[5][6]
Youth in the boarding school[edit]
After finishing her studies at the elementary public school of the village which only offered education till the third elementary grade at that time,[4] Nasrallah wrote a letter to her second maternal uncle, an expatriate businessman in West Virginia expressing her interest in pursuing higher education and explaining her family's dire financial circumstances that prevented her from paying private schooling fees. Her uncle granted her wish and paid for her tuition. She left her hometown when she was sixteen years of age to pursue her education at the Choueifat National College, a boarding school in the suburbs of Beirut.[5][7] She studied in the Choueifat school for four years, during this period her passion for literature deepened as she became an avid reader.[5] She compensated for the absence of a library in her hometown with spending many hours at the Choueifat school library;[4] since she had no resources to buy books, she smuggled Mikha'il Na'ima and Khalil Gibran books – which would influence her writing career greatly – from the college library in order to read them illicitly in her bed. Her fondness of reading was ever-growing, she admitted enjoying the 'interesting reading material' found in the journal and magazine shreds that enveloped dragées and other sweets.[5]
Nasrallah credited Nassim Nasser, her Arabic language teacher, for helping to develop her writing skills and orienting her through his "red correction pen harsh criticism". He was the first to publish her writings in the Telegraph, a local Beirutine magazine, in 1949 and 1950; he also encouraged and selected her to participate in composition and rhetoric contests.[5]
College and career[edit]
After graduation, Nasrallah's parents wanted her to come back to Kfeir and teach at the village school as they did not wish for her to live alone in the city; she decided otherwise and came back to Beirut where she tutored Edvique Shayboub's[nb 1][8] children. Edvique, editor in chief of Sawt al Mar'a (Woman's voice) magazine, offered her the opportunity to publish articles in her magazine and encouraged her to settle in Beirut.
In 1955, Amal Makdessy Kortas (director of the Ahliah school) offered Nasrallah a job and lodging at the school in Wadi Abu Jamil; she taught for two hours daily at the school where Hanan al-Shaykh had been her pupil.[7] She fell short of paying her college education tuition and was financially aided by her friend and colleague at the Ahlia school, Jalila Srour. She also tutored, wrote magazine articles in Sawt al Mar'a and lent her voice to the national radio (al-itha'a al-lubnaniyya) to repay her debt to Jalila[5] and pay for her college education at the Beirut College for Women[7] and the American University of Beirut where she majored with a Bachelor of Arts in education and literature in 1958.[5][9]
Career and journalism[edit]
In 1955, Nasrallah was introduced to Jacqueline Nahas, a journalist at as-Sayyad publishing house and started her 15 years long career at as-Sayyad (the hunter) magazine writing in the society news section; she also contributed articles to Al Anwar newspaper.[5][10] Between 1973 and 1975, she worked as cultural and public relation consultant at the Beirut University College before joining Fayruz magazine from 1981 till 1987 as feature editor.[10]
Personal life[edit]
Awards and honors[edit]
Nasrallah's A cat's diary figured on the 1998 IBBY honor list.[12] The book depicts the horrors of war in Beirut from the viewpoint of Zicco (Zeeko) a Siamese cat and his friend, the girl Mona.[13]
On August 28, 2017, the Goethe-Institut awarded Nasrallah with the Goethe Medal, an official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany honoring non-Germans for meritorious contributions in the spirit of the Institute.[14]
On February 6, 2018, President Michel Aoun decorated her with the Cedar Medal of Honor, Commander Rank. Nasrallah said on the occasion that this was one of the happiest days of her life. When due to health reasons, Nasrallah was unable to attend the award event scheduled to be held at the Presidential Palace, President Aoun sent Minister of Justice Salim Jreissaty to represent him in Nasrallah’s house, where the decoration ceremony took place.
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Lebanese Author, Feminist Emily Nasrallah Dies at Age 87
Lebanese author, feminist Emily Nasrallah dies after struggle with cancer at age 87.
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2017 file photo, Goethe medal award winner Lebanese writer Emily Nasrallah smiles after the 2017 Goethe Medals awards presentation in the Grand Ducal Palace in Weimar, Germany. Lebanese writer and feminist Emily Nasrallah has died following a struggle with cancer. She was 87.. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT (AP) — ACCLAIMED Lebanese author and feminist Emily Nasrallah, who articulated women's experiences in her writing about Lebanon's civil war, has died at the age of 87, her daughter said.
Her writing touched on women's determination, migration and the terror of Lebanon's 1975-1990 Civil War. She was the author of several books for adults and children, and was awarded regional and international prizes for her work.
Maha Nasrallah said her mother passed away in Beirut on Tuesday following a battle with cancer.
Nasrallah began her career as a journalist and published her first book, "Birds of September," in 1962, to critical acclaim.
She possessed a distinctively hybrid style that melded the poetic with the descriptive, said Sirene Harb, an associate professor of comparative literature at the American University of Beirut. Several of her books were translated into foreign languages.
"You really travel through the pages. It's not anymore a book that you have in front of you, it's something you have inside of you," said Harb.
Nasrallah was born in the village of Kfeir in Mount Lebanon in 1931 and moved to Beirut at a young age. Along with several other women writers, including Hanan al-Shaykh, she stayed in Lebanon during the civil war, writing from a perspective that transcended the political and patriarchal narratives of the conflict.
Her feminism was "reflected in her representation of strong and rebellious female characters, and role models who challenge patriarchal traditions," said Harb.
"Birds of September" continues to be taught in schools throughout Lebanon.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri tweeted: "Lebanon and the Arab world lost an icon of literature and Lebanese creativity, and a women's rights activist."
Nasrallah is survived by her four children.
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