I Live (also translated as I Survive) (Arabic: أنا أحيا) is the first novel by the Lebanese writer Laila Baalbakki.
[3][4][5][6] Its publication marked the beginning of a period in which many novels by Lebanese women appeared,[2] and it dealt with the lives of young Arab women finding new ways of living in defiance of traditional gender roles.
[7] The novel was banned for immorality in Lebanon in the same year that it was published,[5] and together with Baalbekki's second novel A Spaceship of Tenderness to the Moon it led to the author going to court to defend herself against a charge of degrading public morals.
[8] Highlighting some of the common themes the work shares with that of other Lebanese women writers, Aghacy notes the importance of the café as a setting offering relative freedom to women, and a strong sense of anger and resentment against the figure of the father.
[2] I Live, with its powerful protest against patriarchy and demand for individual liberty, inspired Hanan al-Shaykh to write.