• Wild Wild East

    In the 1950s, giddy with the glory of a blood-soaked independence, Bollywood churned out films that were high on “Nehruvian nationalism”.

  • Editor’s Note

    Two kinds of spaces are shrinking around us as we speak—one for books and creativity, as it starves from a lack of revenues, and another for our physical existence in the public sphere, caused by the coronavirus.

  • Recommended reading for World Environment Day

    As Abida Chowdhury addresses in her piece on The Great Derangement, narratives that engage with the natural world are scarce. Here are some books, both

  • Original vs Derivative: Reading Syed Shamsul Haque’s Ballad of Our Hero Bangabandhu in Translation

    To aptly celebrate the Birth-Centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one initiative, among others, by Bangla Academy has been to publish Syed Shamsul Haque’s Ballad of our Hero Bangabandhu, together with its translation in English, as part of its grand project named “Birth-Centenary Publications of the Father of the Nation Bangabadhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

  • NEW BOOK

    Rashida Sultana’s much-admired novel, Shada Beralera has been translated into English as The White Cats, recently.

  • Language Attitude Anxiety and Remedial Propositions: A New Approach to ELT

    Asantha U Attanayake’s first exchanges with me were over e-mail. She was travelling across the Subcontinent to collect and develop materials for her forthcoming book.

  • Sweet Dreams and Distressing Nightmares

    Those haunting lyrics of the British band Eurythmics, “Sweet dreams are made of this…”, followed intermittently by “…everybody is looking for something…”, and “…some of them want to use you…” fairly accurately encapsulate the theme of the dozen short stories that make up Rummana Chowdhury’s slim volume,

  • History Animated through Words

    No matter Lawrence Durrel defines history as “an endless repetition of the wrong way of living,” we must study it closely for gaining insights into our very own existence and setting our future course of actions.

  • NEW from The Daily Star Books

    The book comprises a curated collection of essays written by Professor Fakrul Alam on various occasions for The Daily Star, starting from 1999 until now.

  • New Books: Ekushey Boi Mela, 2020

    The poems in this collection explore issues plaguing the world right now—poverty, class inequality, climate crisis, warfare and