Kaiser Haq

Kaiser Haq is a Bangladeshi poet, translator, essayist, critic and academic.

KA DINGA PEPO

It is odd that nowadays One seldom hears the words

1y ago

Alternative routes

The book as a whole is a rigorously pursued exercise in the close reading of a fascinating and diverse array of modern texts that aren't quite in the category of the canonical mainstream.

1y ago

‘FOR YOUR SAKE, O FREEDOM’ 1971 and Bangladeshi poetry

Bangladeshi poetry has always been sensitive to socio-political issues and public themes. In discussing the poetic response to the Liberation War, therefore, it is useful to start with the broad historical background, move on to the literary tradition, and then consider the poetry itself.

1y ago

HEFTY AT FIFTY: ‘When the Mango Tree Blossomed’ and other short stories from Bangladesh

The centenary of the Father of the Nation, and following on its heels the golden jubilee of the country’s independence, have precipitated a tireless round of celebratory events and an avalanche of varied publications.

2y ago

1971: Some fragments of memory

For a couple of months after the 1970 elections everything seemed simple and straightforward.

2y ago

Remembering a literary personality: Farida Majid (1942-2021)

I find two distinct types among denizens of the world of letters. There are writers single-mindedly focused on literary production in one genre or more, and others I would call, for want of a better term, literary personalities.

3y ago

FEMALE WARRIORS

I had decided to write a brief review of Selima Chowdhury’s book when it was first published, but what with one thing or another making me put it off, a couple of years rolled by, and we found ourselves caught up in a pandemic with no end in sight.

3y ago

The China wave in literature

At the Hay Dhaka Literary Festival of 2012 the celebrated Indian writer Vikram Seth, after reading some of his fine translations of Chinese poetry, remarked that he found it odd that his fellow South Asians were incurious about the great civilization north of the Himalayas.

3y ago

March 24, 2018

MY USELESS WEAPON

As Bird flocks take wing at the rattle of sten guns

August 26, 2017

SIX SHARED SEASONS

Let us say you dream of a woman,

August 25, 2017

Partition and Bangladeshi literature

The Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 has become indissolubly linked to horrific, haunting images of armed gangs or mobs attacking helpless groups of men, women and children trying to cross a border that had just been scratched on the map. Literature registers the shock in works that make harrowing reading.

August 5, 2017