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‘We Wrote in Symbols’ is a groundbreaking collection of Arab women writing about love and lust

Given stubborn Western stereotypes about repressed Middle Eastern attitudes toward sexuality, many English-speaking readers may be unaware of the strong tradition of Arabic writing on love and the erotic stretching back several millennia. Perhaps even less known are the significant contributions of women to this genre, from enslaved girls in Islamic courts, who composed poetry both ribald and refined, to contemporary writers penning provocative fiction in the Arab world and its diaspora. Read more

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