Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi نوال السعداوى
Nawal El Saadawi
Born	(1931-10-27)October 27, 1931 Kafr Tahla, Egypt
Died	March 21, 2021(2021-03-21) (aged 89) Cairo, Egypt
Occupation(s)	Physician, psychiatrist, author, feminist
Spouse	Sherif Hatata (1964-2010; divorced)
Children	2

Nawal El Saadawi (Arabic: نوال السعداوى, October 27, 1931 – March 21, 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist. She wrote 47 books about the problems of women in Egypt. She was a Marxist.

Early life

Saadawi was born in the small village of Kafr Tahla. When Saadawi was six years old her clitoris was cut off by a midwife at her home. Saadawi graduated as a medical doctor in 1955 from Cairo University.

Career

In 1958 her first novel, Memoirs of a Woman Doctor, was published. Her first non-fiction work was published in 1972. Her best known work Woman at Point Zero was published in 1975. In 1981 Saadawi helped publish a feminist magazine, Confrontation. Her memoir was published in 1986. El-Saadawi worked as a visiting professor at Duke University between 1993 and 1994.

Personal life

Saadawi had three husbands. She had one son with her third husband Sherif Hatata. They divorced in 2010.

Saadawi died on 21 March 2021 at a hospital in Cairo, aged 89.