Renowned Lebanese Novelist Emily Nasrallah Dies at 87

Late Lebanese novelist and women's rights activist Emily Nasrallah. (NNA)
Late Lebanese novelist and women's rights activist Emily Nasrallah. (NNA)
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Renowned Lebanese Novelist Emily Nasrallah Dies at 87

Late Lebanese novelist and women's rights activist Emily Nasrallah. (NNA)
Late Lebanese novelist and women's rights activist Emily Nasrallah. (NNA)

Prominent Lebanese novelist Emily Nasrallah passed away on Wednesday at the age of 87.

A women’s rights activist and distinguished author of novels, children's books and short stories, Nasrallah focused her writing on themes of family, village life and emigration, as well identity and the lasting effects of Lebanon's 15-year civil war.

A mother of four, Nasrallah grew up in the southern Lebanese town of Kfeir before moving to Beirut, where she took up journalism and gained quick acclaim for her literary talents.

She published her first novel, "Birds of September", in 1962 shortly after graduating from the American University of Beirut with a degree in education and literature.

The book earned her three Arabic literary prizes and kick-started an influential career that spanned decades of political tumult in Lebanon. Several of her works have been translated into English and French.

Her latest book, published just this week and entitled "The Beautiful Times", is a journey through Lebanon in the 1950s that includes encounters with leading women and activists.

"We are sad that we have lost Emily Nasrallah, the person and the writer," Emile Tyan, chairman of al-Dar publishing house, told AFP.

"There cannot be a distinction between Emily the writer and the intelligent, literate, calm and powerful person that she was."

Tyan said that Nasrallah, a pillar of his Beirut-based publishing house, "represented a beautiful period with her literature, culture, ethics, thought, and her connection to her homeland and its roots".

In her best-known children's book "What happened to Zeeko", Nasrallah depicts the impact of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war through the eyes of a cat in Beirut abandoned by its family.

In February, Lebanese President Michel Aoun honored Nasrallah with the Commander of the National Order of the Cedar award in recognition of her literary achievements.

“With her passing, Lebanese literature lost one of its main pillars that has long embodied human values and attachment to the earth, nation and identity. Lebanon, however, will hold Nasrallah in high regard as pioneer that will remain in memories for generations to come,” he said on Wednesday.

"Today, Lebanon and the Arab world have lost a... literary icon, a (symbol) of Lebanese creativity, and a women's rights activist who added intellectual value to our country," Prime Minister Saad Hariri wrote on Twitter.

Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury said that Lebanon has lost "an important female face".

In a television interview two years ago, Nasrallah was humble about her literary talents.

"I do not claim that my language is superior," she said. "I like to write in simple language that is true and strong."

She will be laid to rest in the eastern city of Zahle on Thursday.



Vietnam Scraps Two-Child Limit as Birth Rate Declines 

A grandfather talks to his grandchild inside a kindergarten in Hanoi on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A grandfather talks to his grandchild inside a kindergarten in Hanoi on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Vietnam Scraps Two-Child Limit as Birth Rate Declines 

A grandfather talks to his grandchild inside a kindergarten in Hanoi on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A grandfather talks to his grandchild inside a kindergarten in Hanoi on June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Vietnam's communist government has scrapped its long-standing policy of limiting families to two children, state media said Wednesday, as the country battles to reverse a declining birth rate.

The country banned couples from having more than two children in 1988, but a family's size is now a decision for each individual couple, Vietnam News Agency said.

The country has experienced historically low birth rates in the last three years. The total fertility rate dropped to 1.91 children per woman in 2024, below replacement level, the ministry of health said this year.

Birth rates have fallen from 2.11 children per woman in 2021, to 2.01 in 2022 and 1.96 in 2023.

This trend is most pronounced in urbanized, economically developed regions, especially in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as the cost of living rises.

Tran Minh Huong, a 22-year-old office worker, told AFP that the government regulation mattered little to her as she had no plans to have children.

"Even though I am an Asian, with social norms that say women need to get married and have kids, it's too costly to raise a child."

Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, speaking at a conference earlier this year, warned it was increasingly difficult to encourage families to have more children, despite policy adjustments and public campaigns.

She emphasized that the declining birth rate poses challenges to long-term socio-economic development, including an aging population and workforce shortages.

She urged society to shift its mindset from focusing solely on family planning to a broader perspective of population and development.

Vietnam is also grappling with sex imbalances due to a historic preference for boys. On Tuesday the ministry of health proposed tripling the current fine to $3,800 "to curb fetal gender selection", according to state media.

It is forbidden to inform parents of the sex of their baby before birth in Vietnam, as well as to perform an abortion for sex-selection reasons, with penalties imposed on clinics who break the law.

The sex ratio at birth, though improved, remains skewed at 112 boys for every 100 girls.

Hoang Thi Oanh, 45, has three children but received fewer benefits after the birth of her youngest, due to the two-child policy.

"It's good that at last the authorities removed this ban," she said, but added that "raising more than two kids nowadays is too hard and costly."

"Only brave couples and those better-off would do so. I think the authorities will even have to give bonuses to encourage people to have more than two children."

Vietnam's neighbor China ended its own strict "one-child policy", imposed in the 1980s due to fears of overpopulation, in 2016 and in 2021 permitted couples to have three children.

But as in many countries, the soaring cost of living has proved a drag on birth rates and the moves have failed to reverse China's demographic decline -- its population fell for the third year in a row in 2024.