Taslima Nasreen put her next novel on hold
Kolkata,
December
22:
Bangladeshi
Author
Taslima
Nasreen
who
has
been
in
hiding
at
a
government
safe
house
in
Delhi
for
over
a
month
has
decided
to
put
her
next
novel
on
hold.
The
writer
has
asked
her
publishers
to
cancel
the
publication
of
the
sixth
part
of
her
autobiography.
She
has
not
been
writing
for
the
last
two
months.
The book was to be released during the Kolkata Book Fair in January. Taslima has said she will not be able to meet the deadline as she is finding it difficult to concentrate on her writing. Taslima's supporters are today taking out a rally in Kolkata to protest against the Centre's ultimatum. Ironically since Taslima asked her publishers to delete the objectionable portions of her novel Dwikhondito (Split in Two), the sale picked and has already sold 5,000 copies in less than a month.
Following the Centre's directive, Taslima's publishers and the Publishers and Book Sellers Guild have become jittery and are not sure whether her novels can be displayed at the Kolkata Book Fair. Since 2000 Taslima has been a regular at the Kolkata Book Fair.
However, the Kolkata book fair in January will only see the copy of her poems and her past books, which are all in Bengali. A book of poems by Taslima Nasreen called Tui Nishiddho, Tui Kotha Koish Na (You Shut Up, You Don"t Speak) will be released at Kolkata book fair.
A day after the government told Taslima Nasreen that she could either continue to stay in the national capital confined or leave the country, the controversial Bangladeshi writer appealed to the government to "change its mind".
The writer, who has been virtually on the run since November when she was forced to leave Kolkata following violent protests by radical Muslims demanding her ouster from India, was told of the government decision Thursday.
After unprecedented violence in Kolkata by a section of the city's Muslim community, who were demanding her ouster from India, the 45-year-old writer was shifted to Jaipur on Nov 22 and then to New Delhi in secrecy and under heavy security.
ANI
>