Siraaj

Radwa Ashour was born in Cairo, Egypt on May 26, 1946. She received a MA in comparative literature from Cairo University in 1972 and a PhD in African-American literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1975. She taught at Ain Shams University, where she became a professor of English and comparative literature in 1986 and served as head of the department of English language and literature from 1990 to 1993.

During her lifetime, she wrote novels, memoirs, and literary studies. Her first book, The Journey: Memoirs of an Egyptian Student in America, was published in 1983. Her first novel, Warm Stone, was published in 1985. Her other works included Siraaj, Granada, Spectres, Heavier Than Radwa, Blue Lorries, and The Woman from Tantoura. She also worked as a translator from Arabic into English. She died from cancer on November 30, 2014 at the age of 68.

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