Internationally known and widely travelled, Taslima Nasreen was born in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. After studying medicine, she worked as a gynaecologist and anaesthesiologist in hospitals in Dhaka. During her medical studies she gained prominence as a strongly feminist colmnist and also began to publish poetry and fiction. Her novel Shame was banned in 1993, on the grounds that its 'inflammatory' tone exited tension between Muslims and Hindus. In 1994, the European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize for freedom of Thought. After conservative elements demanded her execution she secretly left Bangladesh and took asylum in Sweden. On 16 November 2004 she received the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) tolerence and non-violence award-the