Rifaat, Alifa (1930–1996)

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Rifaat, Alifa (1930–1996)

Egyptian short-story writer. Name variations: Alifa Rif'at. Born Fatma Abdalla Rifaat, June 5, 1930, in Cairo, Egypt; died Jan 1996 in Cairo; married; widowed (1978); children: 3.

Wrote about difficulties faced by Muslim women; works include Eve Returns with Adam (1981), Who Can Be The Man (1981), Distant View of a Minaret (1984), and A Long Winter Night; stories also appeared in collection Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab Feminist Writing (1990).