Dying by suicide shortly after her novel, Love and Silence, was rejected for publication in 1963, Egyptian writer Enayat al-Zayyat gained brief recognition when the book was finally published four years after her death. Discovering the novel in a Cairo market some 30 years later launched acclaimed Egyptian writer Iman Mersal on a decades-long, life-altering quest to solve the many mysteries about al-Zayyat’s life, death and legacy. Mersal joins us in this episode to discuss the recent English translation of her award-winng 2019 book, Traces of Enayat, and the nexus between al-Zayyat’s story and her own.
Mentioned in this episode:
Traces of Enayat by Iman Mersal
How to Mend: Motherhood and Its Ghosts by Iman Mersal
The Threshold by Iman Mersal
Love and Silence by Enayat al-Zayyat
The Open Door by Latifa al-Zayyat
Egyptian Actress Nadia Lutfi
City of the Dead cemetery in Cairo
German Institute of Antiquities
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