fulfillment comes from her contribution to society, according to Dr. Amira Kashgary, a professor at Jeddah's College of Education for Women and the author of several literary studies. Kashgary said that her interests are divided between social responsibility activities, literary translation and women's issues and that she sees herself as an activist in society. She participated in establishing and improving several civic associations concerned with finding solutions to women's issues and family safety. “I became involved in volunteer work in 1997 and from then I have been active in issues that affect women in our society, participating in different ways including being involved in the media by writing in local newspapers and giving television interviews,” she said. Kashgary, who has been writing in Al-Watan Arabic newspaper since 2002, also has a weekly column entitled “Compass Woman” in Ro'a magazine. Kashgary has always felt that her areas of interest were wide and that she wanted to investigate many fields of knowledge. As a result, she eventually acquired three different Master's degrees and one Ph.D. “My first two Master's were focused on education since we face many problems in our education system, and I felt the need to go in depth into this subject. My third Master's was in linguistics,” Kashgary explains. She believes that with the continuous development in the Kingdom in many areas, people began to feel the need for the literary production of poems and dramas. “I wanted to attract the attention of the world to Saudi literary productions, for which the translation of Saudi literature is necessary,” she said. “There are associations in several countries interested in the translation of Saudi literature, but that is different from what Saudi academics can do,” Kashgary said. “We transfer to the translated work the meaning as well as the spirit of the true picture of our society and culture, which is what is really needed.” Apart from the Arabic to English translation of Saudi literary works, Kashgary has also completed a number of research studies on the translation process and on cultural and educational issues, and she is considering collecting these for publication. She described modern technology as a positive force in society. “Technology helps to connect the younger and older generations,” she said. “Multimedia presents poems in an advanced way by adding links that can, for example, give readers information about the author while they are reading the author's work.” Kashgary explained that her passion for reading came from her father's house in Taif which had a family library to which family members used to add things that they had written. “I have 10 sisters and brothers and we all developed a love for reading as a result of our parents' encouragement,” she explained. “This passion stayed with us, and when I was at school, I began writing for the school magazine.” Kashgary believes that her journey of success is not yet finished. “I always feel that I can accomplish more,” she said. “My journey started after I was married and went to the United States to study for my Master's. Since then I have been a mother, wife, activist and academic researcher,” she said.
