Walking through Fire
Egypt

Walking through Fire

by Nawal El Saadawi

Freedom & Resistance Memoir 2002

Summary

For Nawal El Saadawi, speaking openly about women’s oppression came at a personal cost: censorship, imprisonment, threats, and eventually exile. Yet she refused to surrender her voice.

In Walking Through Fire, El Saadawi continues the story of her extraordinary life, recounting her years as a physician, writer, and activist in a society where challenging political and religious authority could be dangerous. She describes her efforts to establish women’s organisations and publish feminist writing, the threats that forced her into exile, and the personal struggles that accompanied her public resistance.

The memoir reveals the woman behind the internationally recognised intellectual: passionate, questioning, and sometimes conflicted, but determined to live according to her convictions. Through recollections of marriage, motherhood, political repression, and the fight for justice, she explores what it means to remain independent in the face of relentless pressure.

A testament to intellectual courage and personal freedom, the book documents a life spent confronting the forces that sought to silence her.

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Country
Egypt
Africa
About the author
Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) was an Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, novelist, and feminist activist whose work challenged patriarchal traditions, religious authority, and gender inequality in the Arab world. Born in the village of Kafr Tahla, Egypt, she studied medicine at Cairo University and worked as a doctor in rural communities, where she witnessed the social and health consequences of women’s oppression. These experiences profoundly influenced her writing, which addresses female sexuality, bodily autonomy, political repression, and the relationship between gender and power. Her best-known novel, Woman at Point Zero (1975), tells the story of a woman sentenced to death whose life reveals the intersecting forces of poverty, violence, and patriarchal control. Other influential works include The Hidden Face of Eve (1977), a nonfiction examination of women’s lives and oppression in Arab societies. Saadawi’s outspoken criticism of established institutions led to censorship, imprisonment, and periods of exile. Her legacy continues to influence feminist thought and literature across the world.

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Details
Published
2002
Author
Nawal El Saadawi