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
February 8, 2019
Is Dhaka ready for live art?
If you were anywhere around the Faculty of Fine Arts, DU and the Suhrawardy Udyan from 12 pm and 3 pm last Saturday, February 2, you might have seen a tall woman of Caucasian origin,
February 1, 2019
Publishers prepare for the Boi Mela
February is synonymous with a string of cultural events, but none perhaps as iconic as the Ekushey Boi Mela, a month-long commemoration of the 1952 Language movement that takes over Suhrawardy Udyan and Bangla Academy.
January 25, 2019
This week at Alliance Francaise Dhaka, art is born out of friendship
From the title of the exhibition to the ambience that hits you upon entering the gallery, one is struck by the presence of alliance, of the fun borne of creative collaboration in the project.
December 14, 2018
Why BoJack Horseman is life
In season four, episode six of Netflix's BoJack Horseman—titled “Stupid Piece of Sh*t”—BoJack effectively loses it with Hollyhock and his dying mother Beatrice living with him.
November 30, 2018
WORDS THAT HEAL: The comfort of literature in times of mental duress
For Mahera help came not only in the form of relatable characters, but also the physical comfort derived from holding onto a book. "I've carried a book or a Kindle with me during the worst times of my life. It's like a security blanket," she told me.
November 23, 2018
Mohammed Hanif and the voices in his head
The Guardian's review of Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds points out how Momo, one of its characters, “complicates our picture of helpless children in refugee camps.”
November 16, 2018
For actor and director Nandita Das, filmmaking is activism
Backstage at this year's Dhaka Lit Fest was a riot of activity—of footsteps, voices, human bodies all jostling to snag a conversation with some of their favourite cultural minds.
November 9, 2018
Who Made Frankenstein's Monster? Spoiler Alert: It's You
“I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? Tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear.”
November 2, 2018
Anna Burns' Milkman Takes Place Wherever You Are
We read about this girl. That she may have a name doesn't matter. What matters is that she is a'middle-sister', 'middle' as in relative, as in younger sister to someone, older sister to someone, sister-in-law to someone, and daughter to someone else.
October 26, 2018
Monet's 'Water Lilies' and The Ripple Effect
This past year spent studying in France has been a race against the clock. Weeks, months, and semesters passed, and my shortening stay in Paris saw the magnets on my refrigerator room piling up.
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