May Ziadeh's Birthday

Tomorrow, February 11, marks the birthday of May Ziadeh (Mai Ziade, etc.)(1886-1941), pioneering writer, feminist, and literary figure of the Arab literary awakening of the early 20th century. Born in Nazareth of a Lebanese Maronite father and a Palestinian mother, she was educated in Palestine and Lebanon and later presided over a famous literary salon in cairo, though Lebanon tends to claim her as its own.  She wrote poetry, romantic novels, criticism, nonfiction and other works but is also known for her salon. She never married but kept up a famous 19-year literary correspondence with Khalil Gibran in New York, though they never met in person.

Here's her Wikipedia entry; a rather more detailed site in English devoted to her life and work is here.

UPDATE: Arabic Literature (in English) noticed, too, but with excerpts.