Revision 51063830 of "Kola Boof" on enwiki

[[Image:Kola Boof Heathrow Airport.JPG|thumb|Kola Boof at [[Heathrow Airport]] 1998]]
'''Kola Boof''' ([[March 3]], [[1972]]) is an Egyptian-[[Sudan]]ese-American writer, feminist, black activist and outspoken advocate of freedom from slavery. She is the author of a collection of poetry, two collections of short stories, six literary novels, and her soon to be released personal memoir ''Diary of a Lost Girl'', which she describes as her "soul book". It includes 90 pages about her alleged [[1996]] sexual relationship with [[Osama bin Laden]] in [[Morocco]], which, she asserts, happened against her will and ended after six months. Initially, she claims, she denied the sexual relationship with bin Laden to protect herself from being thought of as a terrorist sympathizer when the reality was, according to her story, she had been a prisoner of bin Laden and his men.

==Life==

Kola Boof was born Naima Bint Harith in [[Omdurman]], [[Sudan]]. She is the daughter of an [[Egypt]]ian archeologist father, Harith Bin Farouk, and a Gisi-Waaq [[Oromo]] mother named Jiddi and raised as a [[muslim]]. Her birthdate is unknown, but she "believes she is a [[Pisces]]." [http://kolaboof.tripod.com/remix.htm]  Her parents were murdered in front of her for making denouncements against Arab-Islamic practices in Sudan of oppressing and enslaving Black Sudanese. Her Arab grandmother put her up for adoption for having "dark" skin and after a short time in England, living with an Ethiopian family there, she was adopted by an African American couple in the [[Anacostia Park]] neighborhood of [[Washington, D.C.]]

Kola Boof's first published work was ''[[Flesh and the Devil]]'', published in Arabic in [[1995]], followed by ''[[Every Little Bit Hurts]]'', a [[1997]] collection of her poetry which gained popularity among [[feminists]] in Morocco and southern Europe. In [[1998]], reports of the book's anti-Islamic language reached bin Laden and he threatened to kill her.  Since then she has received more death threats from other Islamists, including Sheik [[Omar Bakri Mohammad]] and a [[fatwa]] death sentence by a sharia court in [[Khartoum]], Sudan.  In 2002, newspapers around the world, including the ''New York Post'', ''Village Voice'' and ''Washington Times'' reported the firebombing of Boof's Ethiopian publisher, Russom Damba. {{fact}}

Kola Boof is married and lives with her husband and two sons in [[California]].  Ms. Boof has been defended publicly by her close friends, former head of the [[NAACP]] [[Joe Madison]], author [[Derrick Bell]], and Nigerian scholar [[Chinweizu]].  She lived under government protection from 2002 to January 2005. <!--(*see sources for details) it said, but *which* sources?-->  As of 2006, Kola Boof was the highest ranking woman in the [[Sudanese People's Liberation Army]] (SPLA) and her poem "Chol Apieth" was used to memorialize SPLA founder/leader [[John Garang]] at his state funeral in 2005. 

Kola Boof has received praise and publicity from the African-American Literary Book Club, journalists [[Bruce Dunne]], [[Mark Fogarty]], [[Simon Jenkins]], the website Africana.com, ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The New York Observer]]'', ''[[The New York Post]]'', ''[[Japanese Playboy]]'' magazine, the television shows [[Fox News]]' [[Fox Report]] and [[BNN]] in [[the Netherlands]]' "The Search For Bin Laden".  She has appeareed or contributed to radio programs in Washington, D.C., [[Los Angeles]], CA, [[San Francisco]], CA, and [[Ireland]].

Boof often and freely appears topless at performances and in photographs. Insisting that [[vanity]] and [[publicity]] have nothing to do with it, she has said that she is "topless to honor my mothers and grandmothers, my own African womenfolk who were always bare breasted in the sun and who gave birth to this whole world... They were not dirty and soiled by man's greed and violence. They were naked because it pleases God...and I do believe that it's an abomination against God for any woman's breasts to be covered." In other instances, she has been less spiritual about the subject: "I have no concern...whatsoever...with what White Caucasoids think about my all-natural, God-given bare black titties." [http://www.rootzreggae.com/Rootz-view/KolaBoof.htm] She also has stated that part of her book contract was that each publication would feature a topless picture of her on the back cover. [http://www.kolaboof.com/feast.htm]

==Personal Quote==

"The meaning of life is that your deeds outlive you."<br><br>

==QUEEN KOLA==

Originally called "Agent Nya Miuokda" by her SPLA commanders, Boof was later dubbed "Agent Queen Kola" and worked spy missions and channeled weapons to Commanders Athor and Yaka's camps in Buoth, Waniek and Pariang.  Though "sexism" and political disagreements have at times strained Boof's relationship with the SPLA (in 2002 they had a falling out over Boof's glamorous "public" spectacles in the U.S. and U.K.), Kola Boof remains a member of the SPLA and documented her work for the organization in her 2006 autobiography, "Diary of a Lost Girl".  Ms. Boof's poem "Chol Apieth" was used to memorialize SPLA founder/leader John Garang at his state funeral in 2005.

==The Anti-Hoax==

In the last several years, journalists like Bruce Dunne (Post Journal), Mark Fogarty (Chicago Tribune) and Simon Jenkins (Newscorp) were able to disprove the claims made by numerous enemies of Boof's politics such as David Hoile, publisher of the Sudanese-financed Media Monitors website, that the author was a "hoax". {{fact}} Ms. Boof's work has been called "alluring, angry and groundbreaking" by ''The New York Times''. {{fact}} Her autobiography "Diary of a Lost Girl" was #2 in Black Book sales at www.aalbc.com at the time of this update.

==Books by Kola Boof in English==

*''Diary of a Lost Girl: The Autobiography of Kola Boof'' (February 2006, ISBN 0-9712-0198-6)
*''Flesh and the Devil'' (U.S. release May 2004, ISBN 0-9712-0197-8)
*''Long Train to the Redeeming Sin: Stories about African Women'' (U.S. release April 2004, ISBN 0-9712-0190-0)
*''Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems by Kola Boof'' (U.S. release Feb. 2004, ISBN 0-9712-0196-X)
*''Politically Inspired'' Short stories edited by Stephen Elliott (Summer 2003, ISBN 1931561583)

==Sources==
*[http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7002236982 ALL HEADLINE NEWS] Prince Fabrizio Ruspoli confirms Bin Laden lived at LaMaison Arabe with then-actress Kola Boof.
*[http://www.kolaboof.com/dangerous.htm Official Website of Kola Boof] 
*[http://mirrormax.i8.com/ QUEEN KOLA interview by Janine Howard]
*[http://newsblaze.com/story/20050805222214nnnn.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Story.html TOP STORY--Funeral of John Garang]
*[http://breaking.tcm.ie/2003/01/07/story83361.html IRISH EXAMINER--Bin Laden Mistress removes son from School]
*[http://doorofkush.50megs.com/contact.html Why the Media Hates Kola Boof]
*[http://www.blacknews.com/pr/bin201.html THE POST JOURNAL interview, Bin Laden's Mistress]
*[http://newsblaze.com/story/20050807002131nnnn.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Story.html TOP STORY]
*Julie Salmon, "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Boof, Writer and Internet Persona", ''The New York Times'', 11 December 2002.

==External links==
*[http://www.kolaboof.com/ Kola Boof's official website]

[[Category:1972 births|Boof, Kola]]
[[Category:Former Muslims|Boof, Kola]]
[[Category:Living people|Boof, Kola]]
[[Category:Sudanese poets|Boof, Kola]]
[[Category:Sudanese novelists|Boof, Kola]]