(1911 - )

Born in Egypt in 1911, el Kalamawi belongs to the first generation of Egyptian women to enter the field of university teaching. She was Professor of Modern Arabic Literature and Chair of the Department of Arabic at the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University. She was Director of the Egyptian General Organism for Information, Publication, Distribution and Printing.

Her schooling was at an English school in Cairo, then at the American University in Cairo. She then studied in Paris and was one of the first Arab scholars to give serious attention to the 1001 Nights. Her Arabic study of the stories was published in 1939.

Her stories appeared regularly in the magazine al Hilal.

Read Arabic Short Stories.

Reference: Arabic Short Stories, ed. Mahmoud Manzalaou, 1985, American University of Cairo Press, p 108.