Rajaa al-Sanea (رجاء بنت عبد الله الصانع; born in 1981, on 11 September[1]) is a Saudi Arabian writer who became famous through her novel Girls of Riyadh (بنات الرياض Banāt al-Riyāḍ).
Upon publication, the novel was immediately banned in Saudi Arabia, as the depiction of infidelity, pre-marital relations and homosexuality was seen as inflammatory material.
[6] Though the novel received backlash from the Saudi government, Girls of Riyadh garnered mass media attention, with many praising the author for taking a bold and uncensored approach in the depiction of the four young women.
However, in a letter to the Times Literary Supplement in September 2007, she asserted that the author Al-Sanea and the publishers Penguin had interfered with her initial translation, resulting in a final version that was "inferior and infelicitous".
[6] In 2006, two Saudi citizens sued the Ministry of Information, asking that the permission they had granted for the publication of Girls of Riyadh be withdrawn, and further requesting that importation and distribution of the book be prohibited and that al-Sanea be punished for writing it.