Ghada Abdel Aal

Ghada Abdel Aal was born on 21 December 1978 in El Mahalla El Kubra in Egypt. Her mother was a public relations worker, while her father was an engineer.[1] She studied pharmacy at college.[2]

She started on a career as a pharmacist at a hospital pharmacy in her hometown.[3] In 2006, encountering a variety of marriage proposals, she began a blog I Wanna Get Married, satirising the experiences of Egyptian women whom society expects only to marry and have children. As the blog became popular, she was approached by a publishing house, Dar El Shorouk, to convert her writings to a book. The eponymous book, written in a colloquial Arabic, was published in 2008 and became a bestseller in the Arab world.[1][4] The book was translated to English by Nora Eltahawy in 2010.[3] There are also German, Italian and Dutch translations.[3]

Ghada Abdel Aal wrote the screenplay adaptation of the book, which won The Golden Pyramid prize at the Cairo Arabic Media Festival. Her book was also awarded the 2012 Bauer Prize at the Venice International Literary Festival.[5]

She is an alumna of the International Writing Program's Fall Residency in 2010.[6]

Ghada Abdel Aal has written a screenplay for a political comedy The Night They Arrested Egypt.[1] In 2014, a 30-episode television satire series Embratoreyet Meen? (Whose Empire?) written by her began showing in Egypt.[7]

She writes a humorous column for the newspaper Al-Shorouk.[8]