Nawal el-Saadawi, renowned Egyptian writer, dies at 89
As a prominent Egyptian feminist, doctor and novelist who wrote more than 50 books on taboo social issues in a deeply conservative country, Saadawi fiercely campaigned for the end to the practice of female genital mutilation.
Nawal el-Saadawi, the prominent Egyptian feminist, doctor and novelist known for writings on gender and religious extremism, died Sunday at the age of 89 following what her family said was a long illness.
Saadawi wrote about taboo social issues in the deeply conservative country, including the Muslim veil, polygamy and inheritance rights for women. She also fiercely campaigned for an end to the practice of female genital mutilation in Egypt, which she experienced at the age of 6.
“Since I was a child, that deep wound left in my body has never healed,” she wrote in her autobiography, “A Daughter of Isis.”
Born in 1931 in a village near Cairo, Saadawi wrote her first book at the age of 13. She would go on to write more than 50 books, which were translated into more than 40 languages. Her controversial 1972 book, “Women and Sex,” caused her to lose her job as director of public health at the Egyptian Health Ministry.
