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Outlook: 'I Wrote a Whole Book on Toilet Paper'

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Nawal El Saadawi

16/11/2015 GMT

'I Wrote a Whole Book on Toilet Paper'

BBC World Service - Outlook, 'I Wrote a Whole Book on Toilet Paper'

Nawal El Saadawi describes how she managed to continue writing despite being imprisoned

Egyptian writer Nawal El Saadawi describes how she managed to continue writing despite being imprisoned.

Fifty years ago, Egyptian writer, Nawal el-Saadawi wrote a novel that shocked the establishment and really thrust her into the forefront of the fight for women's rights in the Middle East. The book was called Woman at Point Zero, and tells the true-life story of a woman sentenced to death for murder. It has sold over a million copies and been translated into 21 languages. The English version has just been republished. In the five decades in between, Nawal has been a fearsome campaigner on many fronts. In her 80s now, she tells Jo Fidgen about her extraordinary life as a writer and campaigner.

Kenita Placide is one of the best known campaigners for gay rights in the Caribbean island of St Lucia, where men can be sent to jail for having sex with men. It is not a crime to be lesbian - but Kenita has faced a lot of hostility and threats to her life as she tells Jo Fidgen.  
 
As soon as German pianist Davide Martello heard about the attacks in Paris on 13 November, he decided he had to make his way there to play his piano outside the Bataclan theatre. We have heard from Davide before on Outlook - when he played the piano in Taksim Square during the protests in Istanbul. He was also in Kiev during Ukraine's Maidan revolution. Davide described the scene in Paris in the aftermath of the attacks.

For years now, women in Iran have faced obstacles to participate in sport. But there are some very determined sportswomen who are doing everything they can to beat the ban. One of them is 26-year-old Behnaz Shafiei, who has a passion for motorcross racing - and who dreams of one day becoming world champion. She told us how her passion for motocross began. 

(Photo: Nawal El Saadawi. Credit: Sable Lit Mag)

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