Here are first-class stories with the energy and freshness we expect from a beginning.' -Doris Lessing, The Independent 'This collection of stories, speeches, essays, poems and memoirs bears fierce testimony to a tradition of brave Arab feminist writing in the face of subjugation by a Muslim patriarchy.'-Publishers Weekly 'This impressive collection of writings by Arab women.

Praise for the first edition: 'An impressive collection of more than 50 pieces-essays, poems, folktales, short stories, memoirs, film scripts, lectures/speeches-by Arab women challenging the widely accepted view of Middle Eastern women as submissive non-thinkers to whom feminism is a foreign concept.' -Booklist 'Anyone interested in good writing should read. 'Opening the Gates succeeds not because of its methodology, but because of the stories the women tell.'-Voice Literary Supplement represent a powerful series of vignettes by women who were both insightful and gifted, into the lives of women who have lived 'behind the veil' over the last 100 years.'-Arab Book World 'An expression of indigenous, intrepid feminism in the Arab world.'-Ms.

Opening the Gates by Margot Badran