Taslima Nasrin

Nasrin is the daughter of Dr. Rajab Ali and Edul Ara, of Mymensingh. Her father was a physician, and a professor of Medical Jurisprudence in Mymensingh Medical College, as well as at Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, and Dhaka Medical College. After completing high school in 1976 (SSC) and higher secondary studies in college (HSC) in 1978, she studied medicine at Mymensingh Medical College, an affiliated medical college of the University of Dhaka, and graduated in 1984 with an MBBS degree.{{cite web |url=https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/11/nasrin-taslima/ |title=Taslima Nasrin |last=Devarajan |first=Arthi |date=Spring 1998 |website=Postcolonial Studies |publisher=Emory University |access-date=27 December 2015 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602134537/https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/11/nasrin-taslima/ |url-status=live }}

In college, she wrote and edited a poetry journal called Shenjuti. After graduation, she worked at a family planning clinic in Mymensingh, then practised at the gynaecology department of Mitford hospital and at the anesthesia department of Dhaka Medical College hospital. While she studied and practised medicine, she saw girls who had been raped; she also heard women cry out in despair in the delivery room if their baby was a girl. Born into a Muslim family, she became an atheist over time.{{cite web |last=Nasreen |first=Taslima |title=For freedom of expression |publisher=UNESCO |date=12 November 1999 |url=http://www.unesco.org/webworld/points_of_views/nasreen_121199.shtml |access-date=28 May 2009 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235801/http://www.unesco.org/webworld/points_of_views/nasreen_121199.shtml}} In the course of writing, she took a feminist approach.{{cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Ashling |title=Feminist author rewrites novel after death threats from Muslim extremists |work=The Times |date=30 November 2007 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2978120.ece |access-date=28 May 2009 |location=London |archive-date=15 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715234813/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2978120.ece }}

Early in her literary career, Nasrin wrote mainly poetry, and published half a dozen collections of poetry between 1982 and 1993, often with female oppression as a theme, and often containing very graphic language. She started publishing prose in the late 1980s and produced three collections of essays and four novels before the publication of her documentary novel Lajja ({{langx|bn|লজ্জা|lit=Shame|translit=Lôjja}}), in which a Hindu family was attacked by Muslim fanatics and decided to leave the country. Nasrin suffered a number of physical and other attacks for her critical scrutiny of Islam and her demands for women's equality. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets demanding her execution by hanging. In October 1993, a radical fundamentalist group called the Council of Islamic Soldiers offered a bounty for her death.{{cite news |last=Targett |first=Simon |author-link = Simon Targett|title=She who makes holy men fume |work=Times Higher Education |date=24 February 1995 |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=96825§ioncode=26 |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=3 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403011927/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=96825§ioncode=26 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Bangladesh: A group called the Sahaba Soldiers; the goals and activities of the group; treatment of those who hold progressive religious and social views by the Sahaba Soldier members (1990–2003) |publisher=United Nations High Commission for Refugees |date=29 July 2003 |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,QUERYRESPONSE,BGD,,3f7d4d5e7,0.html |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=14 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014060725/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,QUERYRESPONSE,BGD,,3f7d4d5e7,0.html |url-status=live }}

In May 1994, she was interviewed by the Kolkata edition of The Statesman, which quoted her as calling for a revision of the Quran; she claimed she only called for abolition of the Sharia, the Islamic religious law.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Nasrin Sahak, Taslima: Bangladeshi author |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/404019/Taslima-Nasrin |access-date=28 May 2009 |archive-date=29 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629052338/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/404019/Taslima-Nasrin |url-status=live }} In August 1994, she was brought up on "charges of making inflammatory statements" and faced criticism from Islamic fundamentalists. A few hundred thousand demonstrators called her "an apostate appointed by imperial forces to vilify Islam"; a member of a militant faction threatened to set loose thousands of poisonous snakes in the capital unless she was executed.{{cite magazine |last=Walsh |first=James |title=Death To the Author |magazine=Time |date=15 August 1994 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981247,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018211500/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981247,00.html |archive-date=18 October 2008 |access-date=1 June 2009}} After spending two months in hiding, she escaped to Sweden at the end of 1994, consequently ceasing her medical practice and becoming a full-time writer and activist.{{cite web |title=Bangladeshi author and doctor Taslima Nasreen threatened by Islamic fundamentalists |publisher=Fileroom |url=http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/id/1058 |access-date=28 May 2009 |archive-date=29 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829160034/http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/id/1058 |url-status=live }}

Leaving Bangladesh towards the end of 1994, Nasrin lived in exile in Western Europe and North America for ten years. Her Bangladeshi passport had been revoked; she was granted citizenship by the Swedish government and took refuge in Germany.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-KwuAAAAIBAJ&pg=6488,3824580&dq=taslima+nasrin+passport+bangladesh&hl=en |title=Home is where they hate you |last=Richards |first=David |date=25 July 1998 |work=The Nation |access-date=8 March 2010 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602134537/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-KwuAAAAIBAJ&pg=6488,3824580&dq=taslima+nasrin+passport+bangladesh&hl=en |url-status=live }} She allegedly had to wait six years (1994–1999) to get a visa to visit India. In 1998, she wrote Meyebela, My Bengali Girlhood, her biographical account from birth to adolescence. She never got a Bangladeshi passport to return to the country to visit her parents, both now deceased.

{{See also|2007 Kolkata riots}}

In 2004, she was granted a renewable temporary residential permit by India and moved to Kolkata in the state of West Bengal, which shares a common heritage and language with Bangladesh, In an interview in 2007, after she had been forced to flee, she called Kolkata her home.{{cite news |last=Dam |first=Marcus |title=Kolkata is my home |work=The Hindu |date=26 November 2007 |url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/26/stories/2007112650020100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201105515/http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/26/stories/2007112650020100.htm |archive-date=1 December 2007 |access-date=30 May 2009 |location=Chennai, India}} The government of India extended her visa to stay in the country on a periodic basis, though it refused to grant her Indian citizenship. While living in Kolkata, Nasrin regularly contributed to Indian newspapers and magazines, including Anandabazar Patrika and Desh, and, for some time, wrote a weekly column in the Bengali version of The Statesman.

Again, her criticism of Islam was met with opposition from religious fundamentalists: in June 2006, Syed Noorur Rehaman Barkati, the imam of Kolkata's Tipu Sultan Mosque, admitted offering money to anyone who "blackened [that is, publicly humiliated] Ms Nasreen's face."{{cite news |last=Bhaumik |first=Subir |title=Cleric quizzed over author threat |work=BBC News |date=27 June 2006 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5121548.stm |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=16 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916233543/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5121548.stm |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Imam-issues-fatwa-against-Taslima/articleshow/1679206.cms |title=Imam issues fatwa against Taslima |work=The Times of India |access-date=11 January 2018 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602134539/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Imam-issues-fatwa-against-Taslima/articleshow/1679206.cms |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/nm12/fatwa-to-blacken-taslima-s-face/article1-113625.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227054347/http://www.hindustantimes.com/nm12/fatwa-to-blacken-taslima-s-face/article1-113625.aspx |archive-date=27 February 2015 |title=Fatwa to blacken Taslima's face |work=Hindustan Times |date=27 June 2006 |access-date=11 January 2018}} Even abroad, controversy followed: on the US Independence Day weekend in 2005, she criticized US foreign policy and tried to read her poem titled "America" to a large Bengali crowd at the North American Bengali Conference at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but was booed off the stage.{{cite news |title=Conventions light up July 4 weekend |work=India Abroad |date=15 July 2005 |quote=With over 12,000 attendees ... the 2005 North American Bengali Conference ... held over the July 4 weekend ... at Madison Square Garden ... writer Taslima Nasrin was unrelenting in her assessment of US foreign policy ... 'Everybody started booing' ... her speech, which ended with an aborted attempt to recite her poem America.}} Back in India, the "All India Muslim Personal Board (Jadeed)" offered 500,000 rupees for her beheading in March 2007. The group's president, Tauqeer Raza Khan, said the only way the bounty would be lifted was if Nasrin "apologizes, burns her books and leaves."{{cite news |title=Indian Muslim Body Offers Reward for Killing a Female Journalist |publisher=Assyrian International News Agency |date=17 March 2007 |url=http://www.aina.org/news/20070317150229.htm |access-date=1 June 2009}}

In 2007, elected and serving members of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen made threats against Taslima Nasreen,{{cite news |title=MLA vows to 'behead' Taslima Nasreen |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mla-vows-to-behead-taslima-nasreen/46658-3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106073011/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mla-vows-to-behead-taslima-nasreen/46658-3.html |archive-date=6 January 2013 |access-date=12 November 2012 |newspaper=IBN Live |date=11 August 2007}} pledging that the fatwa against her and Salman Rushdie were to be upheld.{{cite news |title=MIM vows to implement 'fatwa' against Taslima |url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/11/stories/2007081161781600.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828101103/http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/11/stories/2007081161781600.htm |archive-date=28 August 2007 |access-date=12 November 2012 |date=11 August 2007 |newspaper=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India}} While she was in Hyderabad releasing Telugu translations of her work, she was attacked by party members led by three MLAs- Mohammed Muqtada Khan, Mohammed Moazzam Khan and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri - were then charged and arrested.{{cite news |title=Hyderabad police lodge case against Taslima Nasreen |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/11taslima.htm |access-date=12 November 2012 |newspaper=rediff |date=11 August 2007 |archive-date=24 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124014546/http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/11taslima.htm |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/09nasreen.htm |title=Three MLAs arrested for attack on Taslima Nasreen |work=Rediff.com |access-date=7 August 2019 |archive-date=26 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026110245/https://www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/09nasreen.htm |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Taslima-Nasreen-attacked-in-Hyderabad-during-book-launch/articleshow/2267996.cms |title=Taslima Nasreen attacked in Hyderabad during book launch |work=The Times of India |access-date=18 July 2015 |archive-date=18 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018034851/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Taslima-Nasreen-attacked-in-Hyderabad-during-book-launch/articleshow/2267996.cms |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-mim-activists-rough-up-taslima-nasreen-in-hyderabad-1114508 |title=MIM activists rough up Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad |work=DNA |date=9 August 2007 |access-date=18 July 2015 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135054/https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-mim-activists-rough-up-taslima-nasreen-in-hyderabad-1114508 |url-status=live}}

On 9 August 2007, Nasrin was in Hyderabad to present the Telugu translation of one of her novels, Shodh, when she was allegedly attacked by a mob led by legislators from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, an Indian political party.{{cite news |title=Taslima roughed up in Hyderabad |date=10 August 2007 |url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/10/stories/2007081058910100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104020957/http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/10/stories/2007081058910100.htm |archive-date=4 November 2007 |access-date=31 May 2009 |work=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India}}{{cite news |title=Target Taslima: No room for critics in Islam? |publisher=CNN-IBN |date=10 August 2007 |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/target-taslima-no-room-for-critics-in-islam/46563-3-single.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006220954/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/target-taslima-no-room-for-critics-in-islam/46563-3-single.html |archive-date=6 October 2012 |access-date=31 May 2009}} A week later, on 17 August, Muslim leaders in Kolkata revived an old fatwa against her, urging her to leave the country and offering an unlimited amount of money to anyone who would kill her.{{cite news |last=Hossain |first=Rakeeb |title=Fatwa offers unlimited money to kill Taslima |work=Hindustan Times |date=18 August 2007 |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=5d562b17-64dc-4a90-8396-7cfcaea2d568&ParentID=ea13ac8f-a3d8-45a2-9eba-b56c9b73e87b&&Headline=Kolkata%27s+clerics+threaten+Taslima |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130110233838/http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=5d562b17-64dc-4a90-8396-7cfcaea2d568&ParentID=ea13ac8f-a3d8-45a2-9eba-b56c9b73e87b&&Headline=Kolkata's+clerics+threaten+Taslima |archive-date=10 January 2013 |access-date=31 May 2009}} On 21 November, Kolkata witnessed a protest against Nasrin. A protest organized by the "All India Minority Forum" caused chaos in the city and forced the army's deployment to restore order.{{cite news |date=21 November 2007 |title=Army deployed after Calcutta riot |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7105277.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7105277.stm |url-status=live }} After the riots, Nasrin was forced to move from Kolkata, her "adopted city," to Jaipur, and then to New Delhi the following day.{{cite news |last=Ramesh |first=Randeep |title=Bangladeshi writer goes into hiding |work=The Guardian |date=27 November 2007 |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2217704,00.html |access-date=31 May 2009 |location=London |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135616/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/27/india.books |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Shunned writer Taslima Nasreen arrives in Indian capital |agency=Deutsche Presse-Agentur |date=23 November 2007 |url=http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/146811.html |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=10 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910154439/http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/146811.html }}{{Failed verification|date=August 2013}}{{Failed verification|date=August 2013}}{{cite news |last=Bhaumik |first=Subir |title=Calcutta calm after day of riots |work=BBC News |date=22 November 2007 |url=http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7106897.stm |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=25 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225191024/http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7106897.stm |url-status=live }}

The government of India kept Nasrin in an undisclosed location in New Delhi, effectively under house arrest, for more than seven months.{{cite news |last=Vij-Aurora |first=Bhavna |title=Bad hair days, short of colour: Taslima misses beauty regime and machher jhol in 'house arrest' |work=The Telegraph |date=8 December 2007 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071209/asp/frontpage/story_8647669.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211183159/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071209/asp/frontpage/story_8647669.asp |archive-date=11 December 2007 |access-date=31 May 2009 |location=Calcutta, India}} In January 2008, she was selected for the Simone de Beauvoir award in recognition of her writing on women's rights,{{cite news |title=Top French honour for Taslima Nasreen |work=Hindustan Times |date=14 January 2008 |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=33e08b94-5b71-4894-9072-2e1a1a8a927b |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070613013854/http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=33e08b94-5b71-4894-9072-2e1a1a8a927b |archive-date=13 June 2007 |access-date=31 May 2009}} but she declined to go to Paris to receive the award.{{cite news |title=Taslima won't travel to France to collect award |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Taslima+won%27t+travel+to+France+to+collect+award/1/3886.html |work=India Today |agency=Indo-Asian News Service |date=25 January 2008 |access-date=17 January 2016 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135617/https://www.indiatoday.in/latest-headlines/story/taslima-wont-travel-to-france-to-collect-award-22449-2008-01-25 |url-status=live }} She explained that "I don't want to leave India at this stage and would rather fight for my freedom here,"{{cite news |title=Taslima wants freedom in India |work=New Age |date=19 February 2008 |url=http://www.newagebd.com/2008/feb/19/front.html#11 |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=13 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113103944/http://www.newagebd.com/2008/feb/19/front.html#11 }} but she had to be hospitalized for three days with several complaints.{{cite news |title='Freedom' in hospital, for three nights |work=The Telegraph |date=31 January 2008 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080131/jsp/frontpage/story_8846277.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201034258/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080131/jsp/frontpage/story_8846277.jsp |archive-date=1 February 2008 |access-date=31 May 2009 |location=Calcutta, India}} The house arrest quickly acquired an international dimension: in a letter to the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International, India's former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey urged the organization to pressure the Indian government so that Nasrin could safely return to Kolkata.{{cite news |title=Amnesty help on Taslima sought |newspaper=The Statesman |date=1 February 2008 |quote="Confinement of Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen in a supposedly safe house ... India's former foreign secretary Mr Muchkund Dubey in a personal letter to Ms Irene Khan, chairperson of London-based human rights organisation Amnesty International, has urged her to exert pressure on the Government of India, so that the Bangladeshi author's current predicament gets over and she becomes able to get back to her home in Kolkata."}}

From New Delhi, Nasrin commented: "I'm writing a lot, but not about Islam, It's not my subject now. This is about politics. In the last three months I have been put under severe pressure to leave [West] Bengal by the police."{{cite news |title=Bangladeshi Writer Taslima Nasrin Speaks from Hiding: 'Condemned to Life as an Outsider' |work=The Guardian |date=30 November 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/30/fiction |access-date=28 May 2009 |location=London |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135617/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/30/fiction |url-status=live }} In an email interview from the undisclosed safehouse, Nasrin talked about the stress caused by "this unendurable loneliness, this uncertainty and this deathly silence." She cancelled the publication of the sixth part of her autobiography Nei Kichu Nei ("No Entity"), and — under pressure — deleted some passages from Dwikhandito, the controversial book that was the boost for the riots in Kolkata.{{cite news |last=Bhattacharya |first=Kajari |date=21 January 2008 |title=I've lost all creative freedom: Taslima |newspaper=The Statesman |quote=As she lives in an undisclosed location in New Delhi, writer Taslima Nasreen ... In an exclusive e-mail interview she gave to The Statesman, the controversial writer said she is unable to concentrate on her writing ... She also indicated that she had deleted passages from her controversial book Dwikhandito under mental pressure ... The writer said she had no idea when she would find release from what she called this unendurable loneliness, this uncertainty and this deathly silence ... The Bangladeshi writer cancelled the publication of the sixth part of her autobiography Nei Kichu Nei (There is Nothing) ... because she said she was unable to meet the deadline.}} She was forced to leave India on 19 March 2008.

Nasrin moved to Sweden in 2008 and later worked as a research scholar at New York University.{{cite news |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-has-denied-me-shelter-says-taslima-in-exile/81955-19.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113014744/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-has-denied-me-shelter-says-taslima-in-exile/81955-19.html |archive-date=13 January 2011 |title=A memory of home |publisher=Ibnlive.in.com |date=3 February 2010 |access-date=14 December 2010}} Since, as she claims, "her soul lived in India," she also pledged her body to the country, by awarding it for posthumous medical use to Gana Darpan, a Kolkata-based NGO, in 2005.{{cite web |title=Writer Taslima pledges body to Indian NGO |date=7 March 2005 |url=http://news.indiainfo.com/2005/03/07/0703taslima.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906231522/http://news.indiainfo.com/2005/03/07/0703taslima.html |archive-date=6 September 2008 |access-date=30 May 2009}} She eventually returned to India, but was forced to stay in New Delhi as the West Bengal government refused to permit her entry.{{Cite web |title=Buddhadeb threw me out, now he's losing, Taslima tweets |url=https://www.ndtv.com/assembly/buddhadeb-threw-me-out-now-hes-losing-taslima-tweets-455738 |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.ndtv.com |language=en}} Currently, her visa received a one-year extension in 2016 and Nasreen is also seeking permanent residency in India but no decision has been taken on it by the Home Ministry.{{cite news |title=Taslima Nasreen's Indian visa extended by a year |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/taslima-nasreens-indian-visa-extended-by-a-year/articleshow/59249791.cms |work=The Times of India |access-date=21 June 2017 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225170034/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/taslima-nasreens-indian-visa-extended-by-a-year/articleshow/59249791.cms |url-status=live}}

In 2015 Nasrin was threatened with death by Al Qaeda-linked extremists, and so the Center for Inquiry assisted her in travelling to the United States, where she now lives.{{cite web |url=http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/amid_death_threats_from_islamists_cfi_brings_secular_activist_taslima_nasri/ |title=Amid Death Threats from Islamists, CFI Brings Secular Activist Taslima Nasrin to Safety in U.S. |publisher=Center for Inquiry |date=June 2015 |access-date=1 June 2015 |archive-date=2 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602035237/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/amid_death_threats_from_islamists_cfi_brings_secular_activist_taslima_nasri/ |url-status=live }} The Center for Inquiry (CFI) that helped evacuate her to the U.S. on 27 May gave an official statement in June 2015 stating that her safety "is only temporary if she cannot remain in the U.S., however, which is why CFI has established an emergency fund to help with food, housing, and the means for her to be safely settled".{{cite news |title=Taslima Nasrin Moved to US Following Death Threats in India |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/taslima-nasrin-moved-to-us-following-death-threats-in-india/2806843.html |work=VOA News |access-date=5 June 2015 |archive-date=11 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811020357/http://www.voanews.com/content/taslima-nasrin-moved-to-us-following-death-threats-in-india/2806843.html |url-status=live }}

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| quote = Do you really think a God who created the universe, billions of galaxies, stars, billions of planets- would promise to reward some little things in a pale blue dot (i.e Earth) for repeatedly saying that he is the greatest and kindest and for fasting? Such a great creator can't be so narcissist!
-Taslima Nasrin{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/taslimanasreen/status/1002197882248880128 |title=Taslima on God's narcissism |access-date=31 May 2018 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135652/https://twitter.com/taslimanasreen/status/1002197882248880128 |url-status=live }}}}

Nasrin started writing poetry when she was thirteen. While still at college in Mymensingh, she published and edited a literary magazine, SeNjuti ("Light in the dark"), from 1978 to 1983. She published her first collection of poems in 1986. Her second collection, Nirbashito Bahire Ontore ("Banished within and without") was published in 1989. She succeeded in attracting a wider readership when she started writing columns in late 1980s, and, in the early 1990s, she began writing novels, for which she has won significant acclaim.{{cite news |title=Taslima Nasreen: Controversy's child |work=BBC News |date=23 November 2007 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7108880.stm |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135618/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7108880.stm |url-status=live }} In all, she has written more than thirty books of poetry, essays, novels, short stories, and memoirs, and her books have been translated into 20 different languages.

Her own experience of sexual abuse during adolescence and her work as a gynaecologist influenced her a great deal in writing about the treatment of women in Islam and against religion in general. Her writing is characterised by two connected elements: her struggle with the religion of her native culture, and her feminist philosophy. She cites Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir as influences, and, when pushed to think of one closer to home, Begum Rokeya, who lived during the time of undivided Bengal. Her later poetry also evidences a connection to place, to Bangladesh and India.{{cite web |title=Statement on Taslima Nasreen's departure from India |work=Mainstream |date=7 April 2008 |url=http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article631.html |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135619/http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article631.html |url-status=live }}

In 1989 Nasrin began to contribute to the weekly political magazine Khaborer Kagoj, edited by Nayeemul Islam Khan, and published from Dhaka. Her feminist views and anti-religion remarks articles succeeded in drawing broad attention, and she shocked the religious and conservative society of Bangladesh by her radical comments and suggestions.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} Later she collected these columns in a volume titled Nirbachita Column, which in 1992 won her first Ananda Purashkar award, a prestigious award for Bengali writers. During her life in Kolkata, she contributed a weekly essay to the Bengali version of The Statesman, called Dainik Statesman. Taslima has always advocated for an Indian Uniform civil code,{{Cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/nasrin-makes-a-cameo-pledges-support-for-civil-code/articleshow/56743456.cms |title=Taslima Nasrin: Taslima Nasrin makes a cameo, pledges support for civil code | Jaipur News - Times of India |work=The Times of India |access-date=7 August 2019 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602135619/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/nasrin-makes-a-cameo-pledges-support-for-civil-code/articleshow/56743456.cms |url-status=live}} and said that criticism of Islam is the only way to establish secularism in Islamic countries.{{cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-urgently-needs-uniform-civil-law-says-taslima-nasrin-4487787/ |title=India urgently needs uniform civil law, says Taslima Nasrin |date=23 January 2017 |access-date=23 January 2017 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602140658/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-urgently-needs-uniform-civil-law-says-taslima-nasrin-4487787/ |url-status=live}} Taslima said that Triple talaq is despicable and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board should be abolished.{{cite news |url=http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/the-interviews-blog/triple-talaq-is-despicable-all-india-muslim-personal-law-board-should-be-abolished-for-the-sake-of-muslims/ |title=Triple talaq is despicable ... All India Muslim Personal Law Board should be abolished for the sake of Muslims |newspaper=The Times of India |date=5 May 2017 |last1=David |first1=Rohit E. |access-date=5 May 2017 |archive-date=4 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504233740/http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/the-interviews-blog/triple-talaq-is-despicable-all-india-muslim-personal-law-board-should-be-abolished-for-the-sake-of-muslims/ |url-status=live}} Taslima used to write articles for online media venture The Print in India.{{cite news |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/a-new-invisible-partition-is-happening-in-india-between-hindus-and-muslims/91414/ |title=A new, invisible Partition is happening in India between Hindus and Muslims |work=ThePrint |date=August 2018 |access-date=2 June 2024 |archive-date=1 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801094325/https://theprint.in/opinion/a-new-invisible-partition-is-happening-in-india-between-hindus-and-muslims/91414/ |url-status=live}}

In 1992 Nasrin produced two novellas which failed to draw attention.

Her breakthrough novel Lajja (Shame) was published in 1993, and attracted wide attention because of its controversial subject matter. It contained the struggle of a patriotic Bangladeshi Hindu family in a Muslim environment.{{cite news |date=25 September 1993 |title=Radicals in Bangladesh Want Writer Put to Death |work=The State |page=4A}}{{cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Anis |date=31 October 1993 |title=Bangladesh Author Has Bounty on Her Head |work=Chicago Tribune |page=11}} Initially written as a thin documentary, Lajja grew into a full-length novel as the author later revised it substantially. In six months' time, it sold 50,000 copies in Bangladesh before being banned by the government that same year.

Her other famous novel is French Lover, published in year 2002.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood, 2002), the first volume of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladeshi government in 1999 for "reckless comments" against Islam and the prophet Muhammad.{{cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Kamal |title=Bangladesh bans new Taslima book |work=BBC News |date=13 August 1999 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/419428.stm |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602140657/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/419428.stm |url-status=live }} Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), the second part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2002.{{cite news |title=Bangladesh bans third Taslima book |work=BBC News |date=27 August 2002 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2218972.stm |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=5 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105165244/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2218972.stm |url-status=live }} Ka (Speak up), the third part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladeshi High Court in 2003. Under pressure from Indian Muslim activists, the book, which was published in West Bengal as Dwikhandita, was banned there also; some 3,000 copies were seized immediately.{{cite news |title=Bengal bans Taslima's book |date=28 November 2003 |url=http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/29/stories/2003112905441100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031204104119/http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/29/stories/2003112905441100.htm |archive-date=4 December 2003 |access-date=1 June 2009 |work=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India}} The decision to ban the book was criticized by "a host of authors" in West Bengal,{{cite news |last=Joshua |first=Anita |title=West Bengal Government assailed for banning Taslima's book |date=18 February 2004 |url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/19/stories/2004021911291100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040323054659/http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/19/stories/2004021911291100.htm |archive-date=23 March 2004 |work=The Hindu |access-date=1 June 2009}} but the ban was not lifted until 2005.{{cite news |last=Dhar |first=Sujoy |title=Arts Weekly/Books: Split By Leftists and Fanatics |publisher=Inter Press Service |year=2005 |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30522 |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525103304/http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30522 |archive-date=25 May 2008 }}{{cite news |title=Court lifts ban on Nasreen's book in Bengal |work=Rediff.com |date=23 September 2005 |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/23taslima.htm |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=30 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830002756/http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/23taslima.htm |url-status=live }} Sei Sob Ondhokar (Those Dark Days), the fourth part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2004.{{cite web |title=Exiled Taslima Nasrin to return to Bangladesh |publisher=Indian Muslims |date=16 July 2007 |url=http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jul/15/exiled_taslima_nasrin_return_bangladesh.html |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504034442/http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jul/15/exiled_taslima_nasrin_return_bangladesh.html |archive-date=4 May 2012 |url-status=usurped}}{{cite news |title=New book banned at behest of Islamic bigots: Taslima |agency=Press Trust of India |date=20 February 2004 |url=http://news.indiainfo.com/2004/02/20/2002taslima.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203004519/http://news.indiainfo.com/2004/02/20/2002taslima.html |archive-date=3 December 2008 |access-date=1 June 2009}}

To date, a total of seven parts of her autobiography have been published. "Ami bhalo nei tumi bhalo theko priyo desh", " Nei kichu nei" and "Nirbashito". All seven parts have been published by Peoples's Book Society, Kolkata.

She received her second Ananda Purashkar award in 2000, for her memoir Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood, published in English in 2002).

Nasrin's life is the subject of a number of plays and songs, in the east and the west. The Swedish singer Magoria sang "Goddess in you, Taslima,"{{cite web |title=The Goddess in You Taslima mp3s, The Goddess in You Taslima music downloads, The Goddess in You Taslima songs from eMusic.com |url=http://www.emusic.com/album/Magoria-The-Goddess-In-You-Taslima-MP3-Download/11251013.html |date=5 July 2009 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090705083431/http://www.emusic.com/album/Magoria%2DThe%2DGoddess%2DIn%2DYou%2DTaslima%2DMP3%2DDownload/11251013.html |archive-date=5 July 2009 |access-date=17 April 2015 |url-status=live}} and the French band Zebda composed "Don't worry, Taslima" as an homage.

Her work has been adapted for TV and even turned into music. Jhumur was a 2006 TV serial based on a story written especially for the show.{{cite news |title=Rebel with a cause: Screen On & Off |work=The Telegraph |date=27 April 2006 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060427/asp/calcutta/story_6152141.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060520154911/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060427/asp/calcutta/story_6152141.asp |archive-date=20 May 2006 |access-date=31 May 2009 |location=Calcutta, India}} Bengali singers like Fakir Alamgir, Samina Nabi, Rakhi Sen sang her songs.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} Steve Lacy, the jazz soprano saxophonist, met Nasrin in 1996 and collaborated with her on an adaptation of her poetry to music. The result, a "controversial" and "compelling" work called The Cry, was performed in Europe and North America.{{cite web |last=Huotari |first=Allen |title=Steve Lacy: The Cry |work=All About Jazz |date=May 1999 |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=3652 |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=8 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708005043/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=3652 |url-status=live}} Initially, Nasrin was to recite during the performance, but these recitations were dropped after the 1996 Berlin world première because of security concerns.{{cite magazine |last=Shoemaker |first=Bill |title=Steve Lacy: Making the Words Swing |magazine=JazzTimes |date=December 1997 |url=http://jazztimes.com/articles/24701-steve-lacy-making-the-words-swing |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=29 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329054330/http://jazztimes.com/articles/24701-steve-lacy-making-the-words-swing }}

In 2019, she garnered criticism from all over Bangladesh following her comment on Abrar Fahad in a Facebook status where she claimed "Abrar Fahad behaved like a Shibir Member".{{Cite web |date=2019-10-10 |title=Abrar behaved like a Shibir member: Taslima Nasrin |url=https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/abrar-behaved-shibir-member-taslima-nasrin-16569 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=The Business Standard |language=en}} Her critics included Asif Nazrul who called her a "mentally unstable person" for making such a comparison.{{Cite news |date=October 2019 |title=Asif Nazrul slams Taslima for comparing Abrar to Shibir activist |url=https://www.daily-sun.com/post/430504/Asif-Nazrul-slams-Taslima-for-comparing-Abrar-to-Shibir-activist |access-date=2025-02-14 |work=Daily Sun |language=en}}

When Sri Lanka banned the burqa in 2019, Nasrin took to Twitter to show her support for the decision. She described the burqa as a 'mobile prison,' a comment which was reported on by journalists.{{Cite web |date=30 April 2019 |title=Taslima Nasreen Calls 'Burqa Ban' A Good Decision After Sri Lanka Bans All Face Coverings |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/social-relevance/burqa-ban-in-sri-lanka-taslima-nasreen-calls-burqa-ban-a-good-decision-after-sri-lanka-bans-all-kinds-of-face-coverings-366331.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411111656/https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/social-relevance/burqa-ban-in-sri-lanka-taslima-nasreen-calls-burqa-ban-a-good-decision-after-sri-lanka-bans-all-kinds-of-face-coverings-366331.html |archive-date=11 April 2023 |access-date=2 June 2024 |website=indiatimes.com}}

In another 2020 tweet about A. R. Rahman's daughter Khatija Rahman wearing burqas Taslima said,

I absolutely love A. R. Rahman's music. But whenever i see his dear daughter, i feel suffocated. It is really depressing to learn that even educated women in a cultural family can get brainwashed very easily!

I'm sorry you feel suffocated by my attire. Please get some fresh air, cause I don't feel suffocated rather I'm proud and empowered for what I stand for. I suggest you google up what true feminism means because it isn't bashing other women down nor bringing their fathers into the issue. I also don't recall sending my photos to you for your perusal.{{Cite web |title=Taslima Nasreen-AR Rahman's daughter in war of words over burqa tweet |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/around-the-web/201580/taslima-nasreen-ar-rahman%E2%80%99s-daughter-in-war-of |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Dhaka Tribune |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2020-02-17 |title=Taslima Nasreen, AR Rahman's daughter spar over burqa |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/taslima-nasreen-ar-rahmans-daughter-spar-over-burqa/articleshow/74166452.cms |access-date=2025-03-08 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}{{Cite news |date=2020-02-17 |title=A.R. Rahman's daughter Khatija: 'Why double standards only when it comes to women of a certain faith?' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/ar-rahmans-daughter-khatija-why-double-standards-only-when-it-comes-to-women-of-a-certain-faith/article30841514.ece |access-date=2025-03-08 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}

In a 2019 tweet, she stated on Twitter that

Men and women who have bad genes with genetic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer etc should not produce children. They have no right to make others suffer.{{cite tweet |number=1140856456222146560 |user=taslimanasreen |title=Men and women who have bad genes with genetic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer etc should not produce children. They have no right to make others suffer. |first=Taslima |last=Nasreen}}

In another 2019 tweet just days after V.G. Siddhartha's suicide, Taslima said,

So many painless ways to commit suicide. why hang yourself, drown yourself, or cut your wrist, why jump from the high rise building or the bridge, or swallow pesticide, or poison or why jump in front of an oncoming train? Take the lethal doses of morphine and die peacefully.

I am not encouraging people to die. I am asking people who decided to commit suicide or who is determined to commit suicide, to get a peaceful way to do it. It is a positive tweet.{{Cite news |date=August 2, 2019 |title=Twitterati slam Taslima Nasreen for urging people to choose a 'peaceful' method of suicide, days after VG Siddhartha's death |url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/taslima-nasreen-urges-people-to-choose-a-peaceful-method-of-suicide-days-after-vg-siddharthas-death/articleshow/70495273.cms |access-date=2025-03-08 |newspaper=Mumbai Mirror |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-08-02 |title=Taslima Nasreen Suggests 'Easy Way to Commit Suicide', Gets Heavily Trolled on Twitter |url=https://www.latestly.com/social-viral/taslima-nasreen-suggests-easy-way-to-commit-suicide-gets-heavily-trolled-on-twitter-1065807.html |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=LatestLY |language=en}}

In a 2021 tweet about British cricketer Moeen Ali she said,

If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS.

Haters know very well that my Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic. But they made that an issue to humiliate me because I try to secularize Muslim society & I oppose Islamic fanaticism. One of the greatest tragedies of humankind is pro-women leftists support anti-women Islamists.

Moeen Ali's father Munir said,

If she looks into a mirror, she will know what she tweeted is what is fundamentalist – a vicious stereotype against a Muslim person, a clearly Islamophobic statement. Someone who doesn't have self-respect and respect for others can only stoop to this level.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-07 |title=Hurt and shocked to read Taslima Nasreen's vile remark against my son, says Moeen Ali's father Munir |url=https://www.crictracker.com/hurt-and-shocked-to-read-taslima-nasreens-vile-remark-against-my-son-says-moeen-alis-father-munir/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=CricTracker |language=en}}

In a 2021 tweet about Malala Yousafzai's marriage to Asser Malik, Taslima said,

Quite shocked to learn Malala married a Pakistani guy. She is only 24. I thought she went to Oxford University for study, she would fall in love with a handsome progressive English man at Oxford and then think of marrying not before the age of 30. But..

After a knife terror attack at a church in Nice in 2020, Taslima tweeted "Boycott Islam". This led to formal complaints against for spreading disharmony and communal hate in India. This included Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale filing a complaint with the Home Ministry of India. He said in a tweet,

A Swedish national spreading communal hate speech in India will NOT be tolerated.

In 2024, Taslima faced significant backlash after asserting that Mahfuj Alam was the leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in a Facebook status despite not having any concrete evidence of it. This led to the Indian mainstream media picking up on it and publishing it as news without further fact checking. Her actions quickly sparked a wave of memes and trolling on social media, with many people questioning her motives and even speculating about her mental state.{{Cite news |title=How false claims of Mahfuj Alam's extremist ties spread from social to news media |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/365214/how-false-claims-of-mahfuj-alam%E2%80%99s-extremist-ties |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=Dhaka Tribune |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2024-10-10 |title=Why are the Indian media looking at Bangladesh through Taslima Nasrin's lens? |url=https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/why-indian-media-looking-bangladesh-through-taslima-nasrins-lens-963566 |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=The Business Standard |language=en}}

Nasrin has been criticized by writers and intellectuals in both Bangladesh and West Bengal for targeted scandalisation. Because of "obnoxious, false and ludicrous" comments in Ka, "written with the 'intention to injure the reputation of the plaintiff'", Syed Shamsul Haq, Bangladeshi poet and novelist, filed a defamation suit against Nasrin in 2003. In the book, she mentions that Haq confessed to her that he had a relationship with his sister-in-law.{{cite news |title=Syed Shamsul Huq files Tk 10 cr defamation suit against Taslima |work=The Independent |date=10 November 2003 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-87045073.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103083605/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-87045073.html |archive-date=3 November 2012 |access-date=31 May 2009}} A West Bengali poet, Hasmat Jalal, did the same; his suit led to the High Court banning the book, which was published in India as Dwikhondito.{{cite news |last=Habib |first=Haroon |author2=Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay |title=A Shocker from Taslima: Taslima Nasreen's New Book Causes a Furore in the Literary Circles of Dhaka and Kolkata |work=Frontline |date=19 December 2003 |url=http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/subaltern/events/facworkshops/Habib.pdf |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=17 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717015336/http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/subaltern/events/facworkshops/Habib.pdf }} Nearly 4 million dollars were claimed in defamation lawsuits against her after the book was published. The West Bengal Government, supposedly pressured by 24 literary intellectuals, decided to ban Nasrin's book in 2003.{{cite news |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/02/05/stories/2004020500020100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405121737/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/02/05/stories/2004020500020100.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=5 April 2004 |title=Fishing for trouble |work=The Hindu |date=5 February 2004 |access-date=14 December 2010}} Some commented that she did it to earn fame. She defended herself against the allegations, responding that she had written her life's story, not those of others.{{cite web |url=http://www.sarai.net/publications/readers/04-crisis-media/59taslima.pdf |title=homeless everywhere |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226180222/http://www.sarai.net/publications/readers/04-crisis-media/59taslima.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2010 }} She enjoyed support from Bengali writers and intellectuals like Annada Shankar Ray, Sibnarayan Ray and Amlan Dutta.{{cite web |title=Taslima's visit to India |publisher=International Humanist and Ethical Union |date=28 October 1999 |url=http://iheu.org/taslima-nasrins-visit-india/ |access-date=31 May 2009}}

Recently she was supported and defended by author Mahasweta Devi, poet Joy Goswami, and artist Paritosh Sen.{{cite news |author=Dhiman Chattopadhyay |date=5 December 2003 |title=Literati rise late to Taslima defence |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Literati-rise-late-to-Taslima-defence/articleshow/340493.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811051954/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-12-05/kolkata/27214423_1_taslima-nasrin-mahasveta-devi-poet |url-status=live |archive-date=11 August 2011 |newspaper=The Times of India |access-date=14 December 2010}} In India, noted writers Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad, and others defended her when she was under house arrest in Delhi in 2007, and co-signed a statement calling on the Indian government to grant her permanent residency in India or, should she ask for it, citizenship.{{cite news |title=Intellectuals Demand Indian Citizenship To Taslima Nasreen |work=Mainstream |date=24 February 2008 |url=http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article535.html |access-date=31 May 2009 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602140657/http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article535.html |url-status=live }} In Bangladesh, writer and philosopher Kabir Chowdhury also supported her strongly.{{cite web |url=http://www.secularvoiceofbangladesh.org/Prof.kabir%20chowdhury.htm |title=Prof Kabir Chawdhury |publisher=Secularvoiceofbangladesh.org |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110035931/http://www.secularvoiceofbangladesh.org/Prof.kabir%20chowdhury.htm |archive-date=10 January 2012}}

• Reporters Without Borders (RWB), member of the Emeritus Board[https://rsf.org/en/emeritus-board Emeritus Board] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602140659/https://rsf.org/en/emeritus-board |date=2 June 2024 }} Reporters Without Borders (RWB).

Taslima Nasrin has received international awards in recognition of her contribution towards the cause of freedom of expression. Awards and honors conferred on her include the following:

• Ananda Award or Ananda Puraskar from West Bengal, India in 1992 and 2000 for "Nirbachita Kolam" and "Amar Meyebela"{{Cite web |url=http://peoplesbooksociety.com/product/details/amar-meyebelaautobiography-volume-i |title=Peoplesbooksociety - People's book society |website=peoplesbooksociety.com |access-date=15 May 2019 |archive-date=15 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515080716/http://peoplesbooksociety.com/product/details/amar-meyebelaautobiography-volume-i }}
• Sakharov Prize for freedom of thoughts from European Parliament, in 1994{{Cite web |url=http://www.epgenpro.europarl.europa.eu/static/sakharovprize/en/laureates/1988-1998.html |title=1988-1998|Laureates|Sakharov Prize |website=sakharovprize |access-date=7 August 2019 |archive-date=7 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/http://www.epgenpro.europarl.europa.eu/static/sakharovprize/en/laureates/1988-1998.html }}
• Simone de Beauvoir Prize in 2008{{Cite news |url=http://www1.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/101/article_461.asp |title=RFI - Exiled writer Taslima Nasreen awarded Simone de Beauvoir prize |work=Radio France Internationale |access-date=2 June 2024 |archive-date=15 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215233920/http://www1.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/101/article_461.asp |url-status=live}}
• Human Rights Award from the Government of France,{{cite web |url=http://www.cncdh.fr/article.php3?id_article=120&var_recherche=taslima |title=1994 – Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme |publisher=Cncdh.fr |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720212900/http://www.cncdh.fr/article.php3?id_article=120&var_recherche=taslima |archive-date=20 July 2011}} 1994
• Edict of Nantes Prize from France, 1994{{cite web |title=Taslima - l'Humanite |url=https://www.humanite.fr/1994-11-05_Articles_-Taslima |date=5 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105042402/http://www.humanite.fr/1994-11-05_Articles_-Taslima |archive-date=5 November 2007 |access-date=17 April 2015}}
• Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Swedish PEN, Sweden, 1994
• Feminist of the Year from Feminist Majority Foundation,{{cite web |url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/28/001.html |title=Eleanor Smeal Announces 1994 Feminist of the Year Awards |publisher=Hartford-hwp.com |date=3 January 1995 |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-date=4 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604232302/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/28/001.html |url-status=live }} US, 1994
• Scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service,{{cite web |url=http://www.daad.de/alumni/en/4.2.4_10.html |title=Scholarship holders / Alumni: Taslima Nasrin |website=Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst |access-date=29 October 2009 |archive-date=21 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821151704/http://www.daad.de/alumni/en/4.2.4_10.html |url-status=live }} Germany, 1995
• Honorary Doctorate from Ghent University, Belgium, 1995 [https://www.ugent.be/nl/univgent/voorzieningen/collecties/archief/geschiedenis/overzichten/eredoctoren.htm Overzicht eredoctoraten]
• Distinguished Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union,{{cite web |author=International Humanist and Ethical Union |url=http://www.iheu.org/node/1948 |title=IHEU awards | International Humanist and Ethical Union |publisher=Iheu.org |date=3 March 2006 |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818054855/http://www.iheu.org/node/1948 |archive-date=18 August 2009}} Great Britain, 1996
• Erwin Fischer Award, International League of non-religious and atheists (IBKA),{{cite web |url=http://www.ibka.org/en/articles/rb02/award.html |title=Festivity of the Erwin Fischer Award 2002 to Ms. Taslima Nasrin | International League of Non-religious and Atheists |publisher=IBKA |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-date=2 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202081851/http://www.ibka.org/en/articles/rb02/award.html |url-status=live }} Germany, 2002
• Freethought Heroine Award, Freedom From Religion Foundation,{{cite web |url=http://www.ffrf.org/awards/heroine/2002_nasrin.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002045133/http://www.ffrf.org/awards/heroine/2002_nasrin.php |archive-date=2 October 2006 |title=Freethought Heroine Award |date=2 October 2006 |access-date=11 January 2018}} US, 2002
• Fellowship at Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy,{{cite web |url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/aboutus/pastfellows.php |title=Carr Center for Human Rights Policy |publisher=Hks.harvard.edu |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-date=1 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101001141122/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/aboutus/pastfellows.php }} John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, US, 2003
• UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence,{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D23191%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |title=UNESCO Taslima Nasrin, winner of the 2004 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence |publisher=UNESCO |date=14 October 2004 |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010091903/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D23191%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |url-status=live }} 2004{{Cite web |url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/fight-against-discrimination/sv4/news/viewpoint_taslima_nasrin_winner_of_the_2004_unesco_madanj/ |title=Viewpoint - Taslima Nasrin, Winner of the 2004 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization |publisher=UNESCO}}
• Honorary doctorate from American University of Paris, 2005{{cite news |last=Banerjee |first=Sudeshna |title=Bitter, Taslima stays afloat |work=The Telegraph (Kolkata) |date=30 April 2005 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050501/asp/bengal/story_4683306.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051028065557/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050501/asp/bengal/story_4683306.asp |archive-date=28 October 2005 |access-date=1 June 2009 |location=Calcutta, India}}
• Grand Prix International Condorcet-Aron,{{cite web |title=CREP - Prix condorcet-Aron 2005 |url=http://crep.be/Prix2005.html |date=28 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928031219/http://crep.be/Prix2005.html |archive-date=28 September 2007 |access-date=17 April 2015}} 2005{{cite web |title=Le Groupe Femmes, Politique et Démocratie reçoit le prestigieux 'Prix Condorcet-Aron' du Centre de recherche et d'étude politique de Belgique |date=22 September 2005 |url=http://sisyphe.org/article.php3?id_article=1973 |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-date=16 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016105547/http://sisyphe.org/article.php3?id_article=1973 |url-status=live }}
• Woodrow Wilson Fellowship,{{cite web |url=http://taslimanasrin.com/index2.html |title=Official Home Page of Taslima Nasrin |publisher=Taslimanasrin.com |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221125519/http://taslimanasrin.com/index2.html |archive-date=21 December 2010}} US, 2009
• Feminist Press award, US,{{cite web |last=Hogan |first=Ron |url=http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/party_hopping/feminist_press_celebrates_39th_anniversary_141110.asp |title=Feminist Press Celebrates 39th Anniversary – GalleyCat |publisher=Mediabistro.com |date=23 October 2009 |access-date=14 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126094211/http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/party_hopping/feminist_press_celebrates_39th_anniversary_141110.asp |archive-date=26 November 2009}} 2009
• Honorary doctorate from Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, 2011{{cite web |url=https://www.uclouvain.be/352068.html |title=Discours du Professeur Nathalie Delzenne |website=Universite Catholique de Louvain |date=2 March 2011 |language=fr |access-date=10 April 2015 |archive-date=17 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817025430/https://www.uclouvain.be/352068.html |url-status=live }}
• Honorary citizenship from Esch, Luxembourg,{{Cite web |url=https://esch.lu/ |title=Ville d'Esch-sur-Alzette |website=Ville d'Esch-sur-Alzette |access-date=11 November 2022 |archive-date=16 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116072031/https://esch.lu/ |url-status=live }} 2011
• Honorary citizenship from Metz, France,{{cite web |url=http://www.metz.fr/agenda/fiche-5906.php |title=Autour de Taslima Nasreen |website=Ville de Metz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414005845/http://www.metz.fr/agenda/fiche-5906.php |archive-date=14 April 2015}} 2011
• Honorary citizenship from Thionville, France,{{Cite web |url=http://www.thionville.fr/actualite/153 |title=Autour de Taslima Nasreen |access-date=10 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411015606/http://www.thionville.fr/actualite/153 |archive-date=11 April 2015 }} 2011
• Honorary doctorate from Paris Diderot University, Paris, France,{{cite web |url=http://www.univ-paris-diderot.fr/sc/site.php?bc=dhc&np=accueil |title=Les cérémonies - Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7 |work=univ-paris-diderot.fr}} 2011
• Universal Citizenship Passport. From Paris, France,{{cite web |url=http://fr.amiando.com/citoyennete-universelle.html?page=952109 |title=Programme/Program Journée Internationale "Citoyenneté universelle et liberté mondiale de circulation et d'installation des personnes" Paris |work=amiando |access-date=10 April 2015 |archive-date=17 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417191856/http://fr.amiando.com/citoyennete-universelle.html?page=952109 }} 2013
• Academy Award from the Royal Academy of Arts, Science and Literature, Belgium, 2013{{cite web |url=http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2013/06/16/in-the-meantime/ |title=In the meantime.. |work=Taslima Nasrin's Blog |date=15 June 2013 |access-date=31 May 2017 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602141800/https://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2013/06/16/in-the-meantime/ |url-status=live }}
• Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society{{Cite web |date= |title=Honorary Associates |url=https://www.secularism.org.uk/honoraryassociates.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802173824/https://www.secularism.org.uk/honoraryassociates.html |archive-date=2020-08-02 |access-date=2021-04-09 |website=National Secular Society}}

{{BLP unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}

• Shikore Bipul Khudha (Hunger in the Roots), 1982
• Nirbashito Bahire Ontore (Banished Without and Within), 1989
• Amar Kichu Jay Ashe Ne (I Couldn't Care Less), 1990
• Atole Ontorin (Captive in the Abyss), 1991
• Balikar Gollachut (Game of the Girls), 1992
• Behula Eka Bhashiyechilo Bhela (Behula Floated the Raft Alone), 1993
• Ay Kosto Jhepe, Jibon Debo Mepe (Pain Come Roaring Down, I'll Measure Out My Life for You), 1994
• Nirbashito Narir Kobita (Poems From Exile), 1996
• Jolpodyo (Waterlilies), 2000
• Khali Khali Lage (Feeling Empty), 2004
• Kicchukhan Thako (Stay for a While), 2005
• Bhalobaso? Cchai baso (It's your love! or a heap of trash!), 2007
• Bondini (Prisoner), 2008
• Golpo (stories), 2018

• Nirbachito Column (Selected Columns), 1990
• Jabo na keno? jabo (I will go; why won't I?), 1991
• Noshto meyer noshto goddo (Fallen prose of a fallen girl), 1992
• ChoTo choTo dukkho kotha (Tale of trivial sorrows), 1994
• Narir Kono Desh Nei (Women have no country), 2007
• Nishiddho (Forbidden), 2014
• Taslima Nasreener Godyo Podyo (Taslima Nasreen's prose and poetry), 2015
• Amar protibader bhasha (Language of my protest), 2016
• Sakal Griho Haralo Jar (A poet who lost everything), 2017
• Bhabnaguli (My thoughts), 2018
• Bhinnomot (Different opinions), 2019

• Oporpokkho (The Opponent), 1992.
• Shodh, 1992. {{ISBN|978-81-88575-05-3}}. Trans. in English as Getting Even.
• Nimontron (Invitation), 1993.
• Phera (Return), 1993.
• Lajja, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-14-024051-1}}. Trans. in English as Shame.
• Bhromor Koio Gia (Tell Him The Secret), 1994.
• Forashi Premik (French Lover), 2002.
• Brahmaputrer pare (At the bank of Brahmaputra river), 2013
• Beshorom (Shameless), 2019

• Dukkhoboty Meye (Sad girls), 1994
• Minu, 2007

• Amar Meyebela (My girlhood), 1997
• Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), 2002
• Ka (Speak Up), 2003; published in West Bengal as Dwikhandito (Split-up in Two), 2003
• Sei Sob Andhokar (Those Dark Days), 2004
• Ami Bhalo Nei, Tumi Bhalo Theko Priyo Desh ("I am not okay, but you stay well my beloved homeland"), 2006.
• Nei, Kichu Nei (Nothing is there), 2010
• Nirbasan (Exile), 2012

• Split {{ISBN|978-0-670-09018-1}}
• Exile {{ISBN|978-0-670-08874-4}}
• French Lover {{ISBN|978-0-14-302810-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Nasrin |first=Taslima |title=All About Women |publisher=Rupa & Co |year=2005 |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-291-0630-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Nasrin |first=Taslima |others=Carolyne Wright (trans.) |title=The Game in Reverse: Poems |publisher=George Braziller |date=c. 1995 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8076-1391-7}}
• {{cite book |last=Nasrin |first=Taslima |title=Shame |publisher=Penguin India |year=1994 |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-0-14-024051-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/lajjashame00nasa}} Trans. of Lajja.
• {{cite book |last=Nasrin |first=Taslima |title=Love poems of Taslima Nasreen |publisher=Rupa & Co. |date=c. 2005 |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-291-0628-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Nasrin |first=Taslima |others=Gopa Majumdar (trans.) |title=My Bengali Girlhood |publisher=Steerforth Press |year=2002 |location=South Royalton |isbn=978-1-58642-051-2}} Trans. of Meyebela

• {{cite journal |last=Garzilli |first=Enrica |title=A Non-Conventional Woman: Two Evenings with Taslima Nasrin. A Report |journal=Journal of South Asia Women Studies |volume=3 |issue=1 |publisher=Asiatica Association |location=Milan |year=1997 |url=http://asiatica.org/jsaws/vol3_no1/non-conventional-woman-two-evenings-taslima-nasrin-report/ |issn=1085-7478}}
• {{cite journal |last=Zafar |first=Manmay |title=Under the gaze of the state: policing literature and the case of Taslima Nasrin |journal=Inter-Asia Cultural Studies |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=410–21 |year=2005 |issn=1469-8447 |doi=10.1080/14649370500170035 |s2cid=144386024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hasan |first1=Md. Mahmudul |title=Free speech, ban and "fatwa": A study of the Taslima Nasrin affair |journal=Journal of Postcolonial Writing |date=December 2010 |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=540–552 |doi=10.1080/17449855.2010.517061 |s2cid=28109396}}
• Hasan, Md. Mahmudul (July 2016), "Nasrin Gone Global: A Critique of Taslima Nasrin's Criticism of Islam and Her Feminist Strategy." South Asia Research. 36(2): 167–185. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0262728016638716 Nasrin Gone Global: A Critique of Taslima Nasrin's Criticism of Islam and Her Feminist Strategy]

{{portal|Poetry}}

• List of fatwas
• List of former Muslims
• Women in muslim societies
• The Cry (Steve Lacy album)

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://mondediplo.com/blogs/women-s-untold-stories Women's untold stories: Michael Deibert interviews with Taslima Nasrin]
• [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/points_of_views/nasreen_121199.shtml For freedom of expression] by Taslima Nasrin

{{Sakharov Prize}}

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