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.
3m 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
3m 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.
4m 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
May 17, 2019
A reminder that trees are alive
To call it ‘climate fiction’ would barely scratch the surface of what it really is. Richard Powers’ The Overstory—winner of this year’s
May 10, 2019
Why is a fat, grieving superhero funny?
As far as grand finales go, Avengers: Endgame—the curtain call on this batch of the Marvel cinematic saga—gets a lot of things right.
April 26, 2019
Made in Heaven: As real and entertaining as any Big Fat Indian Wedding
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
April 19, 2019
A graphic novel tackles the ethics of interviewing birangonas
The book opens to a dark, ominous scene. An armed man in a soldier's uniform chases a woman through an open field, her saree unfoiling, smoke billowing from hedges and houses in the horizon.
April 18, 2019
When a book isn’t the answer
If you’re thinking about the title of this article, let me clarify: I’ve always believed the opposite.
April 12, 2019
A Tale of Two Languages: How the Persian language seeped into Bengali
Think of some of the words we use most often in our daily lives in Bengali. The word for 'pen'—kolom; the word for 'sky'—asmaan; 'river'—doria; 'land'—jomeen.
April 5, 2019
Development, but at what cost?
In a solo exhibition “Disappearing Roots”, Samsul Alam Helal explores the impact of gentrification in the Rangamati hill tracts.
March 29, 2019
Audacity Of Hope
During the 1971 Liberation War, Khurshid Jahan, a 21-year-old student of Bagerhat PC College, Khulna, started training as a freedom fighter under the guidance of Lieutenant Zia Uddin.
March 15, 2019
Place-ing CHOBI MELA X
It all starts with contact with light. The process, as we know, requires light to seep into the lens in which the moment captured already exists.
February 22, 2019
The year I spent without Bangla
Growing up schooled in an English medium curriculum can bring with it a certain disconnect with the Bengali language. Or at least it did for me.
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