Hidaya Sultan al-Salem was born in 1936 in Shuwaikh Port, Kuwait to a ruling family. She attended a private Koranic girls school until she was fifteen years old, when she married. Despite marrying early, she continued to pursue her career, beginning as a teacher while gradually moving into writing. While working as a teacher, she began writing articles for Lebanese and Egyptian newspapers before officially becoming a journalist in 1961. Three years later, she helped to found the Kuwaiti Literary League. During her time as a journalist, she published five non-fiction books including, The Arabs and Women in Koran. In 1970, Hidaya purchased the weekly magazine, al-Majalis, which she became the publisher and editor in chief for. In becoming the editor in chief, she became the first female editor of a publication. In addition to al-Majalis, she also owned Arab Sport. Her writing focused primarily on Kuwait and national politics, including deep seeded corporation, and women’s rights in the country. In the late 1970s, she was a part of the second wave of Kuwaiti women writers, contributing a short story “Kharif bila matar”.She also published an underground magazine, Children and Women of Kuwait, during the Iraqi occupation of the country, and was a member of the Kuwaiti Journalists Association. Hidaya was shot and killed in Kuwait City on 20 March 2001 when a high-ranking police officer stopped her car and fired six bullets into her. The police officer later confessed to the crime saying that she had written an article offending his tribe. When she died, she was the first journalist to be killed in Kuwait since the Committee to Protect Journalists begin tracking acts of violence in 1992.