Aḥmad Zakī Abū Shādī papers, 1892-1955

Aḥmad Zakī Abū Shādī (1892-1955) was born in Cairo, Egypt to a father who was a renowned nationalist leader, litterateur, journalist, member of parliament, and President of the Lawyers Union in Egypt while his mother was a poetess and a literary woman. Abu Shadi, himself, was an active poet, author, and publisher. His interest in literature was shown at a young age with the appearance his first collections of prose-poetry(1908-1909) and independent anthology(1910).

Abu Shadi continued to England in 1912 to complete medical studies where he then received his degree in Bacteriology. While in England, he continued his involvement in literature with various articles in the Egyptian press and the founding of a society for Arabic literature. He returned to Egypt in 1922 where he then founded the "Egyptian Bee Club" and became the director of the Bacteriology Department of the Institute of Hygiene in Cairo(1928).

Abu Shadi remained a driving force in the modern Egyptian literature of his time for the duration of his life, both in Egypt and America. He had three children with his first wife, Anne Bamford, who died in 1946 then remarried to Constance F. Wellman in 1953. Abu Shadi was a Honorary Fellow of the American Medical Association and member of many medical, scientific, and literary organizations in multiple countries. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the International League for the Rights of Man and the World Parliament of Religions.