On Her 112th Birth Anniversary, the World Is Celebrating Gamila El Alaily
By Muhammed Aladdin
Considered one of a handful of women behind the Egyptian Reinassance of the 20th Century, Gamila El Alaily was an Egyptian poet, essayist, and artist. She was born on the 20th of March 1907, and in tribute, intellectuals throughout Egypt and the world are celebrating her life and legacy on her birthday week.
Gamila El Alaily was born to a modest family in Mansoura Dakahlia; from an early age, the young poet realized her passion for writing, empowered by the likes of pioneering Poet May Ziadah. She worked on honing her style, and as the years progressed, she found herself in Cairo, the cultural hub of the Arab World, contributing poetry to the Egyptian literary journal Apollo.
It was the renowned Egyptian Poet Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi who inaugurated the Apollo journal in 1932, naming it after the Greek deity of truth, prophecy, healing, light, the sun, and most importantly, poetry. The contributors of the publication dubbed themselves “The Apollo Society,” a conglomerate of influential poets, writers, and artists who came to represent the first wave of modernism in Arab literature.
Being the only woman in this group, El Alaily understood that she carried the burden and a grave responsibility to empower young women all over the Arab world to pursue their passion, just as she did.
In 1936, she published “The Echo of My Dreams”, the first of her three diwans, or volumes of poetry. Her writings were heavily inspired by nature, love, and longing. Between the lines, El Alaily contemplated a number of philosophical concepts that made her poetry touch hundreds of thousands across the Middle East.
For a quarter of a century, the now-established Gamila El Alaily wrote a regular column in her monthly newsletter addressing everything from ethics and values to the role of women in society. Her prolific writings made her one of the leading women of Egypt and the Arab World, inspiring an entire generation of young, passionate writers.
She passed away on the 11th of April 1991, leaving behind her a legacy of empowerment.
