Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian writer and human rights activist. Originally a doctor and psychiatrist, she wrote about female genital mutilation and more generally about the role of women in Islam and Egyptian society. Her 1972 publication al-Mar'a wa-l-¿ins ("Woman and Sex", first German translation published by Gamila in 2024) led to a publication ban in Egypt and the dismissal of her then position as Director of Health Education at the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Nawaal El Saadawi published numerous novels, short stories, plays, memoirs, essays and political writings. She died in Cairo in March 2021 at the age of 89.