Ranging from autobiographical writings to essays, fiction, short stories, and poetry, Taslima Nasreen’s work has long been accompanied by controversy, and the new titles to be published under the Hamish Hamilton imprint of Penguin Random House India from 2021 are likely to follow suit.
Nasreen’s previous 43 books, translated into 30 languages, have been especially vocal about gender and religious oppression, resulting in her being forced into exile in 1994 from Bangladesh with fatwas hanging over her.
Today she is a citizen of Sweden, but currently lives and writes in India.
Nasreen said of the PRH deal,
With these books, I am sharing my thoughts and ideas in different formats – essays, novels, and poems – each focussing on very pertinent social issues, from feminism to humanism, and giving a voice to the voiceless.
It is an honour to be a woman writing in this day and age, removed from fear and bound by the vision of a society that respects women and diversity. Publishing with Penguin is a huge opportunity for me to take my ideas to a wider audience, perhaps even inspire them to build a world that isn’t based on compromises.
Premanka Goswami, senior commissioning editor at Penguin Random House India, described Nasreen as,
one of the most fearless voices of our times. Through her writings, she has always envisioned an egalitarian society.
It’s not clear if the titles will be available in Bangladesh, or if there are plans to have them translated into Bangla. The press release notes simply that the collection,
will be positioned as one single repository of her works in English language.
