"Hirman" by Salma al-Haffar al-Kuzbari

★ Arabic letters has greeted us with "Hirman," a collection of stories, original and translated, all of which tell of the fingertips of the woman who has united in her person motherhood and wifehood, diplomacy and literature...

We would not have turned aside to the person of the author to speak of her — for the production concerns us more than the producer — were it not that she is reflected, in her clarity and the harmony of her colors, in her womanliness and her qualities, in most of the stories!

Perhaps Mrs. Salma al-Haffar al-Kuzbari is inclined to roam the land of Egypt so as to record from there the happenings of her stories, for the story after which she named her book, "Hirman," is Egyptian with a Turkish flavoring — what, then, is the secret?!

The book was introduced by the poet Mr. Shafiq Jabri, who drew his preface from the spirit of the book. And after all, "Hirman" is a sweet breath of woman's story-writing that will meet a warm welcome in Arabic letters.

In a report from Damascus: the writer and mother Salma al-Haffar al-Kuzbari gave birth some three months ago to a baby girl whom she named "Rasha," and she is now absorbed in translating the book "Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman" by the famous writer Stefan Zweig; the book is expected to appear in the months to come.

So "The Woman's Voice" congratulates Dr. Nadir al-Kuzbari and his wife on the arrival of the little girl "Rasha," from whose name one may augur every beauty and charm!