Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Writer, activist and former politician
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American writer and activist who once served in the Dutch parliament. She is the author of Heretic.
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Born 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia
Influenced by John Stuart Mill, Simone de Beauvoir
About Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia in 1969. Her family moved through several countries in Africa and the Middle East, and she received political asylum in the Netherlands at age 23. In 2003 she was elected to the lower house of the Dutch parliament. In 2005, Time magazine listed her among the hundred most influential people globally. She later moved to the United States and joined the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Her book Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015) became a bestseller, as did Infidel and Nomad.