May Ziade or Mayy Ziyadah (Arabic: مي زيادة‎) (1886-1941) is a Lebanese-Palestinian poet, essayist and translator and one of the best known of the women associated with the literary salons in the Arab world. A prolific writer, she wrote for Arabic newspapers and periodicals, Ziade also wrote a number of poems and books. Many consider her an "early feminist" and a "pioneer of Oriental feminism." In 1921, she convened a conference under the heading “The goal of life”, where she called upon Arab women to aspire toward freedom, and to be open to the Occident without forgetting their Oriental identity. Ziadeh also wrote sensitive biographical studies of three pioneer women writers and poets, Warda al-Yaziji, A’isha Taymur, and Bahithat al-Badiya. Compared to other women of her time, Ziade put forward unprecedented literary, journalistic and rhetorical efforts to find public recognition. This ambition for social integration led to the founding of her Tuesday salons open to men and women of varied religious, national and social background. This contrasts with other famous Egyptian salons of the period, like the politically influenced salon of Princess Nazli Abu Fadil, which was exclusively visited by men. Ziade salon hosted at her house remained active for approximately 20 years (1911-1931) and attracted some of greatest writers and intellectuals of the age.


SOURCES
https://middleeastrevised.com/2014/10/30/remembering-may-ziadeh-ahead-of-her-time/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Ziade#cite_note-LEBWA-1