May Ziadeh

May Ziadeh
مي زيادة
Born(1886-02-11)11 February 1886
Nazareth, Acre Sanjak, Ottoman Empire
Died17 October 1941(1941-10-17) (aged 55)
Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt
Pen nameIsis Copia
OccupationWriter

May Elias Ziadeh (/ziˈɑːdə/ zee-AH-də; Arabic: مي إلياس زيادة, ALA-LC: Mayy Ilyās Ziyādah;[a] 11 February 1886[1][2] – 17 October 1941) was a Palestinian-Lebanese Maronite poet, essayist, and translator,[3][4] who wrote many different works both in Arabic and in French.[5]

Born in Nazareth, Palestine to a Palestinian mother and a Lebanese father,[6][7][8] Ziadeh attended school in her native city and in Lebanon, before emmigrating along with her family to Egypt in 1908. She started publishing her works in French (under the pen name Isis Copia) in 1911, and Kahlil Gibran entered into a correspondence with her in 1912. Being a prolific writer, she wrote for Arabic-language newspapers and periodicals, along with publishing poems and books. May Elias Ziadeh held one of the most famous literary salons in the modern Arab world in the year 1921.[9] After suffering some personal losses at the beginning of the 1930s, she came back to Lebanon where her relatives placed her in a psychiatric hospital. However, she was able to get out of it, and then left for Cairo, where she later died.[10]

Ziadeh was one of the key figures of the Nahda in the early 20th-century Middle Eastern literary scene and a "pioneer of Oriental feminism."[2][11][12]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Khader, Lubna (21 October 1999). "Previously Featured Life of a Woman: May Ziade". Lebanese Women's Association. Archived from the original on 18 April 2007.
  2. ^ a b "May Ziade: Temoin authentique de son epoque" [May Ziade: Authentic witness of her era] (in French). Art et culture. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
  3. ^ Ovo, Podjeli (30 October 2014). "Remembering May Ziadeh: Ahead of (her) Time". middle east revised. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014.
  4. ^ بثينة, شعبان (1999). مئة عام من الرواية النسائية العربية (1899-1999) [100 years of Arab-Feminist Novella (1899-1999)]. دار الأدب للنشر و التوزيع. p. 52.
  5. ^ Ouyang 2008, p. 188.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ghorayeb 1979 pp. 375–382 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference جدلية 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Al-Hujari, Muhmmad (June 2018). "مي زيادة .. ملكة دولة الألهام..حايتها راوحت بين الهويات". الفيصل. 499–500 (1): 124.
  9. ^ "May Ziade: Arab Romantic Poet and Feminist Pioneer". Inside Arabia. 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020.
  10. ^ Ghunaim, Raneem (3 July 2020). "Her Fascinating Story a Writer from Nazareth- May Ziada". Arab America. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  11. ^ Boustani 2003, p. 203.
  12. ^ Peterson & Lewis 2001, p. 220.