Asma Rizq Tubi (1905–1983) was a Palestinian writer.

Early life and education

She was born into a

Palestinian Christian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

family in

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

and was educated at the English school there. She studied Greek and then the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, to improve her writing skills in Arabic.

Career

Tubi moved to

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

after being married. She was a founding member of the Women's Union there. She was also a member of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

and the Young Orthodox Women's Association and served as president of the Arab Women's Union. Tubi appeared on local radio stations, including Huna al-Quds ("Jerusalem here") and Sharq Al-Adna ("Near East") in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. She also appeared on a radio show in Beirut in 1948. She was editor of the

women's page The women's page (sometimes called home page or women's section) of a newspaper was a section devoted to covering news assumed to be of interest to women. Women's pages started out in the 19th century as Society reporting, society pages and event ...

for the newspaper ''

Falastin ''Falastin'' (; ) was an Arabic-language Palestinian newspaper. Founded in 1911 in Jaffa, ''Falastin'' began as a weekly publication, evolving into one of the most influential dailies in Mutassarifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman and Mandatory Palesti ...

'' and for the magazines ''Al Ahad'' and '' Kull shay magazine. She published poetry, plays and fiction, including a number of works in English. At age 20 in 1925, Tubi wrote her first play, ''The Execution of the Russian Tsar and His Family.'' When she was forced to leave Palestine in 1948, she left behind a book manuscript called The Arab Palestinian Woman. In 1955, she published a collection of stories titled: ''Aḥādīth min al-qalb'' (“Stories from the heart"). Tubi was considered one of few the Palestinian women writing before 1948, but it was not until after 1948 that Palestinian women's fiction was consolidated artistically. Amid her writing, Tubi was also an engaged activist. In 1937, amid the

Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ), also known as the Great Arab Revolt ( ), was an armed uprising by the Hashemite-led Arabs of the Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire amidst the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On the basis of the McMahon–Hussein Co ...

, and in response to further attempts to partition Palestinian land to the British and Zionist settlers, Tubi organized and led protests against those colonizing forces. In the 1960s, Tubi gathered and recorded oral histories from Palestinian women across the diaspora, which would appear in her 1966 ''Abir wa majd''. For this work, she is sometimes recognized as the first Arab woman to document oral histories.

Death

Tubi died in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

in 1983.

Awards

She was awarded the Lebanese Constantine the Great Award in 1973 and the Jerusalem Medal for Culture and Arts (posthumously) in 1990.

Selected works

* ''The Execution of the Russian Tsar and His Family'' (1925) * ''The Young Girl and How I Would Like Her to Be'' (1943) * ''On the Altar of Sacrifice'' (1946) * ''Conversations from the Heart'' (1955) * ''Fragrance and Glory'' (1966) * ''My Great Love'' (1972) * ''Wafts of Fragrance'' (1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tubi, Asma 1905 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Palestinian women writers 20th-century Palestinian journalists Eastern Orthodox Christians from Palestine Palestinian women journalists Palestinian women poets Palestinian human rights activists Palestinian emigrants to Lebanon Palestinian women activists People from Nazareth People of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Women's page journalists 20th-century women journalists 20th-century Palestinian poets Women human rights activists