Sarah Anjum Bari

Sarah Anjum Bari is a writer and editor, pursuing an MFA in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa where she also teaches rhetoric and literary publishing.

Can our walls make space for our dissent?

The walls of Dhaka city represent the volume and chaos of thousands of people jostling for ever-shrinking space.

4m ago

4 books I was grateful to read this year

It's true, I feel differently about books that I previously disliked or enjoyed reading and books that I want as a physical presence in my life

4m ago

Outliers take centre-stage in Shah Tazrian Ashrafi’s debut collection

It’s hard not to recall our many conversations about literature as I try to summarise Shah Tazrian Ashrafi’s debut collection of short stories. They were always short discussions, opening and closing off in spurts, as happens over text. Exclamations over a new essay collection by Zadie Smith, or a new novel by Isabel Allende.

5m ago

Rifat Munim on Bangladeshi fiction: ‘This is a diverse terrain you are going to tread on’

In the foreword, I wanted to capture how I, as a child, grew up listening to different stories: ghost stories, mythical stories from both Sanatana and Islamic religious scriptures, and fairy tales from 'Thakurmar Jhuli', compiled by Dakkhinaranjan Mitra Majumdar. It was a time when there were no boundaries for my imagination.

9m ago

The first semester is your shitty first draft

Like many veterans, I joined a creative writing MFA program because I wanted to evolve as a writer.

10m ago

A glimpse of the Istanbul we don’t know

Here was a woman who was but a dot amidst the throngs of people who watched the Bosphorus Bridge being opened in October 1973, as fireworks erupted over a Turkey that now seamed Asia to Europe.

1y ago

In conversation with South Asia’s preeminent literary agent, Kanishka Gupta

I always tell the authors to make subjective, qualitative decisions. So many of my authors say no to higher offers from publishing houses if they don’t feel comfortable with the publisher or editor.

1y ago

A bookstore is a time machine—Zeenat Book Supply through the ages

Last week, one of Dhaka’s oldest bookstores announced that they will be closing shop after running for 60 years

1y ago
August 11, 2024
August 11, 2024

Can our walls make space for our dissent?

The walls of Dhaka city represent the volume and chaos of thousands of people jostling for ever-shrinking space.

August 1, 2024
August 1, 2024

4 books I was grateful to read this year

It's true, I feel differently about books that I previously disliked or enjoyed reading and books that I want as a physical presence in my life

June 27, 2024
June 27, 2024

Outliers take centre-stage in Shah Tazrian Ashrafi’s debut collection

It’s hard not to recall our many conversations about literature as I try to summarise Shah Tazrian Ashrafi’s debut collection of short stories. They were always short discussions, opening and closing off in spurts, as happens over text. Exclamations over a new essay collection by Zadie Smith, or a new novel by Isabel Allende.

February 24, 2024
February 24, 2024

Rifat Munim on Bangladeshi fiction: ‘This is a diverse terrain you are going to tread on’

In the foreword, I wanted to capture how I, as a child, grew up listening to different stories: ghost stories, mythical stories from both Sanatana and Islamic religious scriptures, and fairy tales from 'Thakurmar Jhuli', compiled by Dakkhinaranjan Mitra Majumdar. It was a time when there were no boundaries for my imagination.

January 25, 2024
January 25, 2024

The first semester is your shitty first draft

Like many veterans, I joined a creative writing MFA program because I wanted to evolve as a writer.

May 15, 2023
May 15, 2023

A glimpse of the Istanbul we don’t know

Here was a woman who was but a dot amidst the throngs of people who watched the Bosphorus Bridge being opened in October 1973, as fireworks erupted over a Turkey that now seamed Asia to Europe.

May 4, 2023
May 4, 2023

In conversation with South Asia’s preeminent literary agent, Kanishka Gupta

I always tell the authors to make subjective, qualitative decisions. So many of my authors say no to higher offers from publishing houses if they don’t feel comfortable with the publisher or editor.

April 20, 2023
April 20, 2023

A bookstore is a time machine—Zeenat Book Supply through the ages

Last week, one of Dhaka’s oldest bookstores announced that they will be closing shop after running for 60 years

April 14, 2023
April 14, 2023

Zeenat bookstore shuts its doors after 60 years

Zeenat Book Supply, a New Market staple for book lovers since 1963, will close shop on May 1, 2023.

April 13, 2023
April 13, 2023

Piracy a main reason for New Market’s Zeenat bookstore closing down

Zeenat Book Supply, a New Market staple for book lovers since 1963, will close shop on May 1, 2023.