User:Tessara/Soheir Khashoggi

SOHEIR KHASHOGGI

Born: Alexandria, Egypt

Home: New York

Website: www.soheirkhashoggi.com

"My books are banned in Saudi Arabia," says Soheir Khashoggi. "Because I'm an Arab woman, I'm not supposed to talk about culture, not supposed to talk about love." Having spent a large part of her adult life in the United States, where she now lives, Khashoggi has been able to break free of that taboo and write three novels about the pressures on women who are caught between Western and Islamic societies.

Soheir Khashoggi's father, a noted Saudi Arabian doctor, sent his six children back to live in Egypt with their mother so that they would get an English education. Soheir flourished at school, and during her teens won many prizes for art and writing. After a stint at an American college, she was forced by her father into an arranged marriage at the age of twenty-four. "It's hard for a woman from my part of the world to do whatever she wants - women have to obey," she explains. She went to live in Saudi with her husband but found out life there was stifling. With the help of her elder borther Adnan (the billionaire businessman), she left her husband and fled to London with her baby daughter. She eventually married again, this time for love, and had three more daughters. The marriage failed after ten years, however, and she had to bring up her children alone. "It was tough, but I'm strong and I did a good job," she recalls proudly.

Khashoggi started writing after her second divorce ans discovered it was something she loved. her first book, Mirage, was published in 1996, and was followed in 1999 by Nadia's Song. Written in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Mosaic is dedicated to a friend who died on one of the hijacked planes. Khashoggi's life has had more than its share of tragedy: both her mother and her sister died relatively young and her much-loved nephew, Dodi al Fayed, was killed in a car crash in Paris along with Princess Diana.

Although Khashoggi hasn't lived yet the life of a traditional Muslim woman her religion is very important to her. "I love many of the traditions of my culture," she says. "I may be against some of the teachings, but I can't change what's in my heart."