Interesting NYT story about the controversy surrounding Sudan-born writer and web-celeb Kola Boof:
[T]he Kola Boof story demonstrates how flashpoints are reached in cyberspace, the new forum for underground literature and politics, where fact and myth become indistinguishable and publicity campaigns become a kind of performance art. Without the imprimatur of a major publisher or a mainstream review or a public appearance, she has managed to instigate anger and discussion about her work.
Ms. Boof said a fatwa was ordered up on her in London for her stand against organized religion, but particularly against Arab Muslims. Sudanese officials in London, however, said that was not true. One of those officials did denounce her in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, a leading Arab-language newspaper in the United Kingdom. A number of well-known African-American activists have taken up her causes, which include her opposition to slavery in the Sudan and her condemnation of stoning and female castration and other harsh measures taken against African women. (…)
Ms. Boof's Web site appeared on the Internet a few months ago, presenting her as a mysterious but alluring figure, whose life provided a potent brew of international politics, diplomatic and sexual — part Graham Greene, part Jacqueline Susann. Among other things, she claims she briefly was Osama bin Laden's mistress, in the late 1990's.
UPDATE: Here is her website.
Link to NYT story (registration required) Discuss (Thanks, Reverse Cowgirl!)
