Kolkata:Nearly two decades after she was forced to leave Kolkata following protests over her controversial book ‘Dwikhondito’, exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Thursday said returning to the city for her first public appearance felt like coming back to “my own country”.

She expressed hope that the visit would reaffirm the importance of freedom of expression and protection of dissenting voices.

Nasreen is scheduled to take part in a programme here on August 1, which is also likely to be attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and renowned author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay.

This will be Nasreen’s first public appearance in Kolkata since 2007, when protests against her memoir forced her to leave the city she had made her home after fleeing Bangladesh a decade earlier.

Nasreen’s book ‘Dwikhandito’ (Split in two) was banned by the West Bengal government in 2003 for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.

Speaking to PTI, Nasreen said Kolkata was not merely a place where she lived but a city that gave her a sense of belonging, and that the years away had not weakened her connection with West Bengal.

“I feel as though I am returning to my own country. Bengal has never been divided in my heart by a border or a barbed-wire fence. The door to the eastern part of Bengal remains closed to me, so for now, this part of Bengal is my home,” she said.

“I am returning with joy, but also with pain. Kolkata was not merely a city where I lived; it was where I had a home, friends, readers and a sense of belonging. Nearly nineteen years were taken from me, and no homecoming can return those lost years. I am not returning as a stranger or a guest.