Za'ima Sulayman al-Baruni

Za'ima Sulayman al-Baruni (1910–1976) was a Libyan writer and activist. She was one of the country's first short story writers in the post-independence period, publishing the collection al-Qasas al-Qawmi in 1958.

A forceful proponent of women's education, Baruni established the Libyan Women's Association and was a founding member of the country's Women's Renaissance Association. She was the daughter of the anti-colonial leader Sulayman al-Baruni and worked to collect and publish his papers and poetry after his death.

Biography Za'ima Sulayman al-Baruni was born in Jadu, Libya, in 1910. Her father was Sulayman al-Baruni, an important Libyan anti-colonial resistance leader, scholar, and poet. Za'ima al-Baruni was able to travel for her education thanks to her father's work, studying Turkish in Istanbul and Arabic in Syria, then returning to study in Libya, where she focused on Arabic.

Baruni supported her father throughout his resistance efforts, then lived with him in exile in India. After her father died in exile in 1940, Baruni settled in Tripoli.

After Libyan independence in 1951, she began working to promote women's education and adult education. She worked for the Ministry of Education and established the Libyan Women's Association to provide classes for women.

Baruni is considered a pioneer among women in Libya's literary and activist spheres. She became a founding member of the Women's Renaissance Association (Jamʿiyyat al-Nahda al-Nisaʿiyya) in 1958.

That same year, she published her short story collection al-Qasas al-Qawmi (The National Narrative).

Za'ima al-Baruni died in 1976. On the news of her death, the writer Lutfiya al-Qaba'ili hailed her as a pioneer among Libya's literary women.