BRIEF BIO
Taslima Nasreen, an award-winning writer, physician, secular
humanist and human rights activist, is known for her powerful writings on women
oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and
multiple fatwas calling for her death. In India, Bangladesh and abroad,
Nasreen’s fiction, nonfiction, poetry and memoir have topped the best-seller’s
list.
Taslima Nasreen was born in Bangladesh. She started writing
when she was 13. Her writings won the hearts of people across the border and
she landed with the prestigious literary award Ananda from India in 1992 and
2000. Taslima won The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European
Parliament in 1994. She received the Kurt Tucholsky Award from Swedish PEN, the
Simone de Beauvoir Award and Human Rights Award from Government of France. She
received Le Prix de l' Edit de Nantes from the city of Nantes, France. She is a
Humanist Laureate in The International Academy for Humanism,USA. She won
Distinguished Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union,
Free-thought Heroine award from Freedom From Religion foundation, USA., IBKA
award, Germany,and Feminist Press Award, USA . She got the UNESCO Madanjeet
Singh prize for Promotion of the Tolerance and Non-violence in 2005. She
received the Medal of honor of Lyon. She got honorary citizenship from Paris,
Nantes, Lyon, Metz, Thionville, Esch etc. Taslima was awarded the
Condorcet-Aron Prize in the “Parliament of the French Community of Belgium” in
Brussels. She received Academy prize from the Belgium’s Royal Academy of Arts,
Science, and Literature in 2013.
Bestowed with honorary doctorates from Gent University and
UCL in Belgium, and American University of Paris and Paris Diderot University
in France, she has addressed gatherings in major venues of the world like the
European Parliament, National Assembly of France, Universities of Sorbonne,
Oxford, Harvard, Yale, etc. She got fellowships as a research scholar at
Harvard and New York Universities. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in the USA
in 2009. Taslima has written 37 books in Bengali, which includes poetry,
essays, novels and autobiography series. Her works have been translated in
thirty different languages.Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh. Because
of her thoughts and ideas she has been banned, blacklisted and banished from
Bengal, both from Bangladesh and West Bengal part of India. She has been
prevented by the authorities from returning to her country for the last 20
years.
NOT SO BRIEF BIO
Taslima Nasreen was born in August
1962 to a Muslim family in Mymensingh, East Pakistan.
Because the area became Independent in 1971, her city of birth is now in the country called Bangladesh.
Growing up in a highly restrictive and conservative
environment, Taslima was fond of literature
while she also excelled in science. She started writing when she was 13 years
old,
beginning with poetry in literary magazines, and afterwards herself editing a
literary periodical called SeNjuti (1978
- 1983). She was the president of a literary organization while in medical
college, where she staged many cultural programs. Earning her medical degree in 1984,
she worked in public hospitals for eight years. Her first book of
poetry was published in 1986. Her second became a huge
success in 1989, and editors of progressive daily
and weekly newspapers suggested that she write regular columns. Next she
started writing about women's oppression. With no hesitation she criticized
religion, traditions, and the oppressive cultures and customs that discriminate
against women. Her strong language and uncompromising attitude against male domination
stirred many people, eliciting both love and hatred from her readers. In 1992
she received the prestigious literary award Ananda
from West Bengal in India for her Nirbachito Kolam (Selected Columns), the first writer from
Bangladesh to earn that award. Despite allegations of jealousy among other
writers about this, the topmost intellectuals and writers continued to support her.
Islamic fundamentalists started launching campaign
against her in 1990, staging street demonstrations and processions. They broke into newspaper
offices that she used to regularly write from, sued her editors and publishers,
and put her life in danger, a danger that only increased over time. She was publicly assaulted
several times by fundamentalist mobs. No longer was she welcomed to any public places,
not even to book fairs that she loved to visit. In 1993, a fundamentalist organization
called Soldiers of Islam issued a fatwa against her, a price was set on her head because of
her criticism of Islam, and she was confined to her house. The government
confiscated her passport and asked her to quit writing if
she hoped to keep her job as a medical doctor in Dhaka Medical College
Hospital.. She was thus forced to quit her job. Inasmuch as she had become a
best-selling author in Bangladesh and West Bengal in India, she
managed to survive the hostility. The government, however, banned Lajja (Shame), in which she described the atrocities against
Hindu minorities by Muslim fundamentalists, her main message being "Let
humanism be the other name of religion."
According to Taslima, the
religious scriptures are out of time, out of
place. Instead of religious laws, she maintains, what is needed is a
uniform civil code that accords women equality and justice. Her views caused
fourteen different political and non- political religious organizations to
unite for the first time, starting violent demonstrations, calling
general strikes, blocking government offices, and demanding her immediate
execution by hanging.The government, instead of
taking action against the fundamentalists, turned against her. A case was filed
charging that she hurt people's religious feelings, and a non-bail-able arrest
warrant was
issued. Deeming prison to be an extremely unsafe place, Taslima
went into hiding.
In the meantime two more fatwas were issued by Islamic extremists, two more prices were set on her head, and hundreds of thousands of fundamentalists took to the streets,demanding her death. The majority who were not fundamentalists remained silent. Regardless, some anti-fundamentalist political groups did protest the fundamentalist uprising, but did not defend Taslima as a writer and a human being who should have the freedom to express her views. Only a few writers defended her rights. But the international organization of writers, and many humanist organizations beyond the borders of Bangladesh, came to Taslima's support. News of her plight became known throughout the world. Some western democratic governments that endorse human rights and freedom of expression tried saving her life. After long miserable days in hiding, she was finally granted bail but was also forced to leave her country.
Wherever she lived, she fought for Human Rights and Women’s Rights.
In 1998, without the government's permission she risked a return, to be
with her ailing mother. Again, fundamentalists demanded she be killed. When her mother -
a religious Muslim - died, nobody came from any mosque to lead her funeral, her
crime being that she was the mother of an 'infidel'. A case again
was filed against her on the charges of hurting religious
feelings of the people. After a few weeks of
staying, Taslima was forced to leave her
country once more. Taslima was desperate to see her father when he was ill,but the government did not let her go to Bangladesh.
Her passport was not renewed, her rights as a
citizen had constantly been violated by the governmental authority.
Taslima has been living in exile in Europe. She has
written more than thirty books of poetry,
essays, novels, and short stories in her native language of Bengali. Many have
been
translated into twenty different languages. Her applications to the Bangladesh
government
to be allowed to return have been denied repeatedly. One Bangladesh court
sentenced
her in absentia to a one-year prison term. The Bangladesh government has
recently
banned three other of her books, Amar Meyebela ( My girlhood), Utol
Hawa (Wild wind) and Sei
sob ondhokar(Those dark days). Writers and intellectuals both in Bangladesh and
West Bengal went to court to ban her autobiography Ko(
speak up) and Dwikhandito(The Life
Divided). Two million-dollar defamations suits were filed against Taslima by her
fellow writers. The West Bengal government finally
managed to ban Dwikhandito
on the charges of hurting religious feelings of the people. A Human Rights organization in
Kolkata flied a case against West
Bengal
government for banning a book that is against freedom of
expression. After two years, the ban was lifted by the
Kolkata High Court, which, Taslima says, is a victory
for freedom
of expression.
The numerous prestigious awards she has received in western countries have resulted in increased international attention to her struggle for women's rights and freedom of expression. She has become a symbol of free-speech. Taslima has been invited to speak in many countries and at renowned universities throughout the world.Her dreams of secularization of society and secular instead of religious education are becoming increasingly more accepted and honored by those who value freedom. Taslima was forced to leave Bangladesh for Europe. After a decade, when she was granted a visa, she visited India, her second home. When she was granted residence permit, she moved there. But only after 3 years of living in West Bengal, because some Muslim extremists wanted her to leave India, the West Bengal Government and the Indian Government forced her to live under house arrest and put pressure on her to leave the country. She was forced to leave India after being confined for seven and half months.
The real tragedy is that two countries which give her the
oxygen of language have cut her off. It's not the geography alone, but the languagescape also. That's the real crime... a fish
being made
to live on land. She does not have home. She is homeless everywhere.