I Killed Scheherazade
Confessions of an Angry Arab Woman

Fiery and candid, I Killed Scheherazade is a provocative exploration of what it means to be an 'Arab woman' today.

In this provocative book Joumana Haddad uses the format of the political pamphlet to describe the liberating impact of literature on her life. She tells of reading the Marquis de Sade at twelve, of her metamorphosis into an award-winning poet, and reflects upon how this has shaped her as an Arab woman, as a writer and as a magazine editor. Joumana challenges prevalent notions of identity and womanhood in the Middle East and speaks of how she came to create the Arab world's first erotic literary magazine, Jasad (Body), that has earned her both admiration and censure. Fiery and candid, I Killed Scheherazade is a provocative exploration of what it means to be an 'Arab woman' today.

CONTENTS:








TO START WITH - On camels, belly dancing, schizophrenia and other disasters
1 AN ARAB WOMAN READING THE MARQUIS DE SADE
2 AN ARAB WOMAN NOT BELONGING ANYWHERE
3 AN ARAB WOMAN WRITING EROTIC POETRY
4 AN ARAB WOMAN CREATING A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE BODY
5 AN ARAB WOMAN REDEFINING HER WOMANHOOD
6 AN ARAB WOMAN SAYING NO
7 AN ARAB WOMAN FLYING AN AIRPLANE
8 AN ARAB WOMAN SEIZING THE MOMENT
9 AN ARAB WOMAN UNAFRAID OF PROVOKING ALLAH
10 AN ARAB WOMAN TALKING TO HER SON ABOUT SEX
TO START again - Am I really an 'Arab Woman'?
POST PARTUM - I killed Scheherazade
THE MISSING CHAPTER - Attempt at an autobiography