Literature

Alifa Rifaat's work delved into the desires and domestic lives of 20th century Egyptian women.

Alifa Rifaat

Writing women’s desires and domestic lives in 20th century Egypt

Alia Soliman looks at the ‘danger’ in the work of Egyptian writer Alifa Rifaat, whose ‘imprint lingers as someone who dared speak of female desire in what was at the time an almost completely patriarchal society’. Continue reading
Isabella Bird

Isabella Bird

Writer, explorer, trailblazer

In the second of a series of posts from Scottish PEN (a centre of PEN International, the worldwide association of writers promoting literature and freedom of expression), Jenni Calder explores the life and writing of Isabella Bird. Continue reading
Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene

Twelfth-century Greek Byzantine princess, historian, scholar–and conspirator?

Ioulia Kolovou takes a fascinating look at the way Byzantine princess Anna Komnene has been portrayed in history and literature as ‘dangerous’. Continue reading
Holloway Prison, London, c.1896.

‘Slopping Out’

What if Holloway Prison could reflect on its closure?

If these walls could talk? Eithne Cullen imagines what Holloway Prison would have to say about the announcement of its closure in 2015, after more than a century of housing some of the UK’s most notable female prisoners. Continue reading