Salwa Al Neimi was born in Damascus, Syria. Since the mid-seventies, she has lived in Paris, where she studied Islamic Philosophy and Theatre at the Sorbonne. She has published three volumes of poetry and a collection of short stories.
Syria
Salwa Al Neimi
All Salwa Al Neimi's books
Latest reviews
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A bestseller throughout the Arab world, a tribute to sex, eroticism, language and liberty, The Proof of the Honey is a superb celebration of female pleasure. A Syrian scholar working in Paris is invited to contribute to a conference on the subject of classic erotic literature...— Books on the Move, Jun 24 2015![]()
A few weeks ago, Canada saw the English-language publication of Egyptian novelist Bahaa Taher's Sunset Oasis, which won the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008. This year's winner was Azazeel, by Egyptian scholar and novelist Youssef Ziedan. Both books deal...— Jan 19 2010![]()
“The benefits of intercourse are in the first place, the satisfaction of lust, in the second the enjoyment of pleasure, and in the third healing.” So it goes in this journey of the mind and the senses in which Al Neimi’s “polyamorous” heroine addresses the reader...— Jun 5 2009![]()
In 2005, "The Almond," by Nedjma, gained attention for the way its narrator's voracious sexual appetite formed a feminist response to her oppressive society. The book offered an unveiled roar, but it also read like bad pornography. Readers disappointed by "The Almond" would...— May 13 2009![]()
In this seemingly autobiographical narrative, Al Neimi mines the depths of Arabic literature in an attempt to revive the forgotten language of sexuality. Her purpose is to show the subtle tension that exists between today's conservative Arab and Middle Eastern cultures and their...— May 7 2009![]()
An Arab-French writer explores in sensuous hindsight the life-changing nature of a passionate affair. Al Neimi’s first person narrator, a scholar of Arab literature, works as a university librarian in Paris, where her discovery of erotic Arabic texts rekindles the memory...— Feb 26 2009![]()
The novel’s title is inspired by the words of the mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi: “The proof of the honey’s sweetness is the honey itself”—words that exult experience as a path toward comprehension and toward ecstasy. As one might imagine, “honey” is employed here in much...— Aug 28 2008![]()
First published in Beirut, where it was immediately prohibited for sale to minors, welcomed in Maghreb and Abu Dhabi, but forbidden in other Arab countries, with particular venom in the author’s native Syria (where a popular national daily dubbed it the unreadable biography...— Aug 2 2008![]()
Another erotic novel. Another account of a woman’s sex life. No doubt we’ll be hearing about de Sade, Virginie Despentes, and the others. But no! In The Proof of the Honey, au contraire, the Syrian-born author Salwa Al Neimi is heading for unchartered terrain: sex in the...— Jun 2 2008
