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. 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, Le Prix de l' Edit de Nantes from the city of Nantes, France, Academy prize from the Royal Academy of arts, science and literature from Belgium. 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 at the “Parliament of the French Community of Belgium” in Brussels and Ananda literary award again in 2000.

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 40 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 since 1994, and to West Bengal since 2007.

The movie » « Arabic language is used to stop peeing in public

My contribution to abolish anti-freespeech law in India

The Supreme Court delivered a verdict against Section 66 A of Information and Technology Act 2000. The Section gave the police powers to arrest those who post objectionable content online and provides for a three-year jail term.

I was one of the petitioners who challenged the law.

The movie » « Arabic language is used to stop peeing in public

Comments

Ophelia Benson says

May 11, 2015 at 6:23 am

So that’s a win! Fantastic!

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- Taslima Nasreen says
  
  May 12, 2015 at 2:11 am
  
  Thank you so much. Love you.
  
  Reply
A Hermit says

May 11, 2015 at 7:33 pm

Bravo Ms. Nasreen! Your courage and commitment to the principles of free thought are a constant inspiration. Thank you.

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- Taslima Nasreen says
  
  May 12, 2015 at 2:10 am
  
  You welcome. : )
  
  Reply
Sanhita Bhattacharya says

May 12, 2015 at 10:19 am

Hello didi. I was a student of history. But your writings and fighting has forced me to select women’s and gender studies as a further field of research. Thanks for being such a motivation for the rest of my life.

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