On the trail of Taslima Nasreen - writer, icon and outcaste

The Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre at UTS is pleased to invite you to a conversation event between Melbourne-based writer Hanifa Deen and Nareen Young, ex CEO of the Diversity Council Australia.

The conversation will revolve around Hanifa's latest book 'On the Trail of Taslima Nasreen - an international Human Rights Saga'.

Author Hanifa Deen, explores the domestic and international responses to dissident Bangladeshi writer-in-exile, Taslima Nasreen.
Following a newspaper interview the author gave in neighbouring India, violent demonstrations broke out in 1994 and she was accused of blasphemy. This led to an international campaign by human rights organisations such as: Amnesty International, International PEN and Reporters Sans Frontiers to 'Save Taslima'.
Labelled 'the female Salman Rushdie', which eventually proved her undoing, Nasreen escaped to the West where she became an overnight celebrity, a much- lauded feminist and free speech icon adopted by European freedom of expression organisations and USA feminists. Her Western supporters never asked why Bangladeshi feminists, secularists and human rights activists never 'adopted' her.
Nasreen’s brand of feminism and Indian backing alienated her from what should have been her domestic support base. Eventually Nasreen toppled from her literary pedestal in the West, a victim of everyone’s expectations, political manoeuvring and her own sense of entitlement. Nasreen writes in Bengali, her mother tongue, and wants to live permanently in West Bengal, India. This presents difficulties for the government as her presence leads to violent demonstrations by Muslim extremists. She is also famous for her acrimonious fallings out with her male mentors in Bangladesh, Western Europe and now in India. Hirsi Ali, another critic of Islam, has in some respects relegated Nasreen to the sidelines.

About Hanifa Deen:
Hanifa Deen is a Melbourne-based author. She has served as Hearing Commissioner with the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission and was also a director on the Board of SBS. Hanifa has written six books including 'Broken Bangles'; and award winning 'Caravanserai: A Journey Among Australian Muslims'; 'The Jihad Seminar' and 'Ali Abdul v.The King'.