Author: Taslima Nasrin

A world-renowned author and activist explains why women can be free and thrive only in secular societies.

I was born to a Muslim family in a small town called Mymensingh in what then was East Pakistan. Today, after gaining independence, this country is Bangladesh. It is a nation of more than 140 million people—one of the most populous countries in the world, where 70 percent of the people live below the poverty …

Hunted, isolated from her family and friends, forced to leave the country of her birth, Taslima Nasrin has lived under these circumstances since 1994, when the government of Bangla desh ordered her arrest. Her crime was the publication of Lajja! (Shame!), a book in which she protested against Muslim attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh after …