Ramziya al-Iryani

Ramziya Abbas al-Iryani or al-Eryani (1954 – November 14, 2013) was a pioneering Yemeni novelist, writer, diplomat and feminist. She was also the niece of the former president Abdul Rahman al-Iryani.[1]

Biography

She was born in the village of Iryan in the Ibb Governorate, went to secondary school in Taiz and then studied philosophy at Cairo University earning a bachelor's degree in 1977.[2] She also had a master's degree in Arabic literature. In 1980 she became the first female diplomat to join the Yemeni diplomatic corps.[2] She was head of the Yemeni Women's Union (YWU) and was a board member of the Arab Family Organization.[3] In her political work, she was a tireless supporter of feminism in Yemen and encouraged women to run for political office.[2] In 2012, at the International Women's Day celebration, she gave a keynote speech as the director of YWU.[4] Al-Eryani died in 2013 in Berlin during surgery; her body was returned to Sana'a and interred in al-Rahma cemetery.[2]

Writing

Al-Iryani started publishing when still in her teens. Her novel Dahiyat al-Jasha (The Victim of Greed), published in 1970-71, is considered to be the first novel by a Yemeni woman.[5] Her first book of short stories La'allahu ya'ud (Maybe He'll Return) was published from Damascus in 1981. Since then, she wrote several more volumes of fiction as well as several children's books. She had also written a book on Yemeni women pioneers called Raidat Yemeniyat (1990). Al-Iryani's short stories have appeared in English translation in an anthology of Arab women writers.[6]

Al-Iryani's writing addresses gender issues in a predominantly patriarchal, Islamic society.[7] She also writes about the importance of education for women in an Arab society.[7] Other themes in her work include Yemeni political struggles of the day.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Ayhan, Veysel (2011). "Turkish-Yemeni Relations: Yemen’s view on Turkey". International Middle East Peace Research Center.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Yemen Loses a Great Female Leader". National Yemen. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Gender and the Writing of Yemeni Women Writers, by Antelak Al-Mutawakel, PhD dissertation, University of Tilburg, 2005
  4. ↑ Al-Sakkaf, Nadia (8 March 2012). "Prime Minister: 'Yemen Would be Better Off With a Woman Leader.'". Yemen Times. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Arab women writers: a critical reference guide, 1873-1999, by Radwa Ashour, Ferial Jabouri Ghazoul, Hasna Reda-Mekdashi
  6. ↑ Arab Women Writers: An Anthology Of Short Stories, SUNY Press, 2005
  7. 1 2 Al-Wadhaf, Yahya Hassan (July 2013). [file:///home/chronos/u-1b82093e868fd772312a71fee53a31eada9da60a/Downloads/705-1368-1-SM.pdf "A Critical Reading to a Short Story by Ramizia Al-Eryani"] Check |url= value (help) (PDF). Journal of Social Studies (41): 7–26. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Annotated Bibliography for Yemen (2)". Women Writers from Sudan, Chad, Somalia and Yemen. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2015.

External links

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