Google honors Khalidi, the late prominent pioneer

CAIRO – 4 August 2018: Google is honoring the prominent Lebanese late writer Anbara Salam Khalidi with a Google Doodle to celebrate the influential author’s birthday on Aug. 4.

On this occasion, Egypt Today will give its reader a glimpse on the life of the great writer, translator and women rights advocate who had a great impact on Arab women in her time.

Khalidi was born in Beirut in 1897 to a notable Muslim Lebanese family. Her father Salim Ali Salam was a rich merchant and a deputy in the Ottoman parliament.

Her brother Saeb Salam was an ex Lebanese prime minister. Two of her brothers served as cabinet ministers of Lebanon, as well.

She was educated based on the latest trends of education at her time and learned French. She and her brothers joined the Anglican Syrian College in Ras Beirut, which is the predecessor of the American University of Beirut.

In 1925, she travelled to the United Kingdom to study there for two years.After returning back to Beirut, Khalidi joined the women's movement in Lebanon.

Khalidi was a pioneer in almost everything she had ever done. She was a bold intellectual woman who was never afraid to express her opinion in public and ready at any time to defend her stances.

In 1927, she was the first Muslim woman in Lebanon to desert the veil in public during a lecture at the American University of Beirut.

She was the first translator to translate Homer's master piece ‘’Odyssey’’ into Arabic. Khalidi was also the first to translate ‘’Aeneid’’ written by Virgil to Arabic.

In 1978, she published her memoir entitled ‘’Jawalah fil Dhikrayat Baynah Lubnan Wa Filastin’’ (A Tour of Memories of Lebanon and Palestine in English).

In 2013, her memoir was translated into English under the title of ‘’Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist’’.

In her memoir, Khalidi elaborated on the negative effects of the activities performed by Ottoman ruler of Syria at that time, Jamal Pasha, on her family and childhood. A whole chapter in her memoir is pertaining to Jamal Pasha, titled ‘’Jamal Pasha and his Crimes’’.

Anbara Salam’s husband was a Palestinian educator named Ahmad Samih Al Khalidi. He was the principal of the Arab College in Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine. They settled during their early marriage years in Jerusalem and later moved to Beirut where she died in May 1986.

The veteran writer led a rich life with a career that spanned over 60 years. A long successful journey launched Khalidi as an icon of literature and translation during her life and after her death.