Fadl, poet and courtesan, belonged to an illustrious circle of elite female performers and poets in ninth-century Iraq, the central province of the Abbasid Empire. Medieval Arabic sources provide a sketch of her life and career. Of enslaved origin, and trained in the literary arts, she is said to have participated fully in the salon-type culture of Baghdad and Samarra, the two imperial capitals. The sources make much of her close relations with elite political and cultural figures, including Bunan, another of the leading courtesans of the age.