, pen name of Mārī Ilyās Ziyāda , pioneer writer of poetry in prose, essayist, orator and journalist in Arabic, French and English; translator from several European languages; and a zealous feminist who defended the case of Arab women’s education and freedom.
Born in Nazareth on 11 February 1886 to a Lebanese Christian father who worked as a teacher and journalist, and a Galilee mother from a village near Nazareth, Mayy received a French education at St. Joseph’s School in Nazareth (1892-9), in ʿAyntūra in Lebanon (1900-4), and at the L…