Ghoussoub, Mai

▪ 2008

      Lebanese writer, publisher, and sculptor

born Nov. 2, 1952 , Beit Shabab, Leb.

died Feb. 17, 2007 , London, Eng.

cofounded (with her longtime friend André Gaspard) Al Saqi (1979), the first bookshop in London to focus on Arab literature and Middle Eastern culture, and Saqi Books (1984), a small publishing house that provided an outlet for works considered too daring or controversial by more traditional Arab publishers. Saqi expanded its publishing activities to Beirut in 1990. Ghoussoub was born into a Maronite family, and she simultaneously studied math at American University and literature at Lebanese University in Beirut. She lost an eye during the Lebanese civil war (1975) and went for medical treatment to Paris and then London, where she settled. Ghoussoub's own writings included Leaving Beirut: Women and the Wars Within (1998).

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