Irshad Manji is a Ugandan-born Canadian educator. She is the author of The Trouble with Islam Today (2004) and Allah, Liberty and Love (2011), both of which have been banned in several Muslim countries. She also produced a PBS documentary in the America at a Crossroads series, titled Faith Without Fear, which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008. A former journalist and television presenter, Manji is an advocate of a reformist interpretation of Islam and a critic of literalist interpretations of the Qur'an.
Fatima Bhutto is a Pakistani writer and columnist. Born in Kabul, she is the daughter of politician Murtaza Bhutto, sister of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr, niece of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and granddaughter of former Prime Minister and President of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. She was raised in Syria and Karachi, and received her bachelor's degree from Barnard College, followed by a master's degree from the SOAS University of London.
Chong Eng, is a Malaysian politician who served as Member of the Penang State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) state administration under Chief Ministers Lim Guan Eng and Chow Kon Yeow and as Member of the Penang State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Padang Lalang from May 2018 to August 2023, Member of Parliament (MP) of for Bukit Mertajam from November 1999 to May 2013 and MLA of Penang for Batu Lancang from April 1995 to November 1999. She is the member, Women Chief and Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the PH coalition. She also served as Women Chief of PH from March to September 2021. She is also Deputy Head for Women Parliamentary Caucus and sits as a Standing Order Committee member. She also served in the Women Crisis Center and Community AIDS Service Penang.
Muazzez İlmiye Çığ is a Turkish archaeologist, sumerologist, assyriologist, writer and supercentenarian who specializes in the study of Sumerian civilization. She stirred controversy in the Muslim world and received worldwide media coverage in 2006 with her assertion, outlined in her book from the previous year, that the headscarf worn by Arab women did not originate in the Muslim world, but was actually worn five thousand years earlier by Sumerian priestesses as a means of initiating young men into sex.
Tahmima Anam is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, novelist and columnist. Her first novel, A Golden Age (2007), was the Best First Book winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prizes. Her follow-up novel, The Good Muslim, was nominated for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. She is the granddaughter of Abul Mansur Ahmed and daughter of Mahfuz Anam.
Mohd Faizal Musa, also known under the pen name Faisal Tehrani, is a Malaysian author and playwright. Due to the frequent writing and ideas he was known as a controversial person. He is the author of many books and literary works of various lengths, including stage plays. National Laureate Anwar Ridwan praises of Faisal's writing "conscious of high literature and full of vision."
Huzir Sulaiman is a Malaysian director and actor. He is the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. A critically acclaimed and award-winning playwright, his Collected Plays 1998-2012 was published in 2013. His plays have been translated into German, Japanese, Polish, Indonesian and Mandarin. His essays and commentary pieces have appeared in The Star, The Straits Times and The Huffington Post.
Datin Paduka Marina binti Tun Dr. Mahathir is a Malaysian socio-political activist and writer. She is the eldest child of the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir Mohamad and Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali. She graduated from the University of Sussex.
Rabia Kazan is a Turkish author and women's rights activist. She is the president of the Middle Eastern Women's Coalition (MEWC) and was formerly on the board of directors of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. Kazan is a former Muslim and a critic of Islam, known for her bestselling book The Angels of Tehran about the legal prostitution system in Iran.
Wena Poon is a lawyer and novelist based in the United States. She writes English-language fiction. Her work has been seen by academics in the UK, US and Singapore as representative of the transnationalism of her generation.
The Malaysian Insider was a Malaysian bilingual news site. During its peak, it ranked consistently as one of the country's 100 most popular websites. In June 2009, Alexa ranked it as Malaysia's 57th most popular website. Compete.com estimated that it had almost 19,000 unique visitors in April 2009.
Tan Sri Dato' Hajah Noriah binti Kasnon was the Member of Parliament of Malaysia for the Sungai Besar constituency in Selangor, Malaysia. She was a member of the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party and was a Deputy Minister in the Barisan Nasional (BN) governments of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak.
Bejan Matur is a Kurdish poet and writer from Turkey.
Syed Mohd Zakir Bin Syed Othman Al-Yahya, is a Malaysian writer of prose, poetry, and theatrical texts.
Syerleena Abdul Rashid is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bukit Bendera since November 2022. She served as Member of the Penang State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Seri Delima from May 2018 to August 2023 and Member of the Penang Island City Council from 2015 to 2018. She is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalitions. In addition to her involvement in politics, Syerleena was previously a columnist of The Malaysian Insider and contributed extensively in various online news portals. She was also formerly a member of Aliran, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), as well as an anti-human trafficking movement.
Sahar Zaman is an Indian television news journalist and author. She is credited with raising issues of national importance concerning citizens rights and security in her daily prime time shows. She was invited to Beijing as a delegate to the BRICS Media Forum to represent India's soft power through her work at Hunar TV.
Dinsman is a Malaysian poet, playwright and theatre practitioner. Dinsman is his penname, his real name being Che Shamsudin Osman.
Tan Sri Dato' Mohamad Ariff bin Md Yusof is a Malaysian politician who served as the 9th Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, the lower chamber of the Parliament of Malaysia from July 2018 to his removal from speakership in July 2020. He is a member of the National Trust Party (AMANAH), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition. He resigned from all AMANAH party positions but not membership to become more impartial after being appointed to the Dewan Rakyat speakership. Therefore, he remains an AMANAH ordinary member.
Martin Vengadesan is a Malaysian writer, musician and associate editor at news portal Malaysiakini.
