Nasrin, Taslima (1962–)

Bangladeshi doctor, feminist, columnist, poet and novelist. Born Aug 1962 to a Muslim family in Mymensingh, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh); dau. of a physician; Mymensingh Medical College, MBBS, 1984.

Edited literary periodical, Senjuti (1978–83); worked in public hospitals as an anesthesiologist for 8 years; writing in Bengali, published 1st book of poetry (1986) and a highly successful 2nd collection, Amar kichu jay ase na (I Couldn't Care Less, 1989); in her columns (1989–94), wrote about women's oppression, about sexual equality and sexual freedom, and called for the prosecution of Muslim clerics whose religious courts have condemned poor women to death by stoning or burning; became a rallying cry for the Hindu minority and received the Ananda award for Nirbachito Kolam (Selected Columns, 1992), the 1st writer from Bangladesh to be so honored; became confined to her house and had to quit her job during the 1st fatwa against her issued by Islamic fundamentalists (1990), who began staging street demonstrations; published Lajja (Shame, 1993), which deals with fundamentalist hatred, which sold 50,000 copies in6 months, then was banned by the government of Bangladesh; threatened with death by Islamic extremists with the issue of 2 more fatwas, went into hiding (1994); lives in exile in Stockholm, Sweden; has written 28 books of poetry, essays, novels and short stories, and three more of her books were banned in Bangladesh, Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood), Utol Hawa (Wild Wind) and Shei shob ondhokar (Those Dark Days); also wrote autobiographies Ko (Speak Up) and Dwikhandito (Split in Two).