Fiction / Home for rent

BDT 80,000/3200 ft2 — Two-storey building built during the late 1970s with three baths, two verandas, and two garages @ Dhanmondi 33 (also known as Lost Property Lane), Dhaka.

Poetry / Delila’s quest (20 October 2014)

Li’l Del is walking all alone Li’l Del wants to find her way home.

BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Stitching fragments of a city lost in time

In the contested notion of creating a ‘nation,’ few ideas provoke as much ire among the everyday citizens of a bordered entity as the concept of a space—one that carries with it the weight of instilling an identity.

‘Sunrise on the Reaping’: Fan service and repetitive themes weigh down ‘Hunger Games’ prequel

Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series has captivated pop culture with its bold take on tyranny, sacrifice, and resistance, spanning Katniss Everdeen’s blazing defiance in The Hunger Games (2008) to her final stand in Mockingjay (2010) against Coriolanus Snow’s cold cruelty.

The morgues are full

In Gaza, the names of the martyrs slip through silence, lost to a world too distracted to listen

Making headlines

We'll put up feigned politicians / And their fake promises instead

Bluebird’s anthology

Who do I tell, sir? The walls do not listen, The roads do not answer back

6 literary characters we wish could join our Eid table

What if our Eid table had a few extra chairs reserved not for guests from our world but from that of the books we’ve loved throughout our life?

What does a tomb look like?

Let us talk about death. Let us talk about funerals.

Memory speaks

Sometimes at early dawn / You overpower my eyelids / And won’t let me wake up

Of glitter pens, prestige, and Eids in Dhaka

Being a Dhakaite, your Eids in childhood were spent in mournful longings for something to happen.

Reviews

Reviews

Book review: Fiction / A tapestry of traditions, joy, and growth

Beyond the celebration of Eid, this book also explores themes of love, loss, and the grief of spending a special occasion without a loved one.

BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / The making of Bangladesh in the global sixties

“Mr Speaker Sir, what did Bangalee intend to achieve? What rights did Bangalee want to possess? We do not need to discuss and decide on them now [after independence]. [We] tried to press our demands after the so called 1947 independence. Each of our days and years with Pakistan was an episode of bloodied history; a record of struggle for our rights,” said Tajuddin Ahmad on October 30, 1972 in the Constituent Assembly. He commented on the proposed draft constitution for Bangladesh, which was adopted on November 4, 1972.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / An outlandish jumble of cults, cannibalism, and colonial violence

Melissa Lozada-Oliva takes us on a bumpy apocalyptic horror ride in her debut novel Candelaria. Spanning across three generations of women, the novel ushers together an unsettled past and an even more bizarre present.

⁠⁠Recommendations

⁠⁠Recommendations

THE SHELF / Books about female rage

With International Women’s Day being celebrated across the world tomorrow, we here at Star Books and Literature decided to take a moment to read and reflect on the many expressions of female rage in both ancient and contemporary literature

WHAT WE'RE READING THIS WEEK / 'Bhasha Andoloner Itihash' by Bashir Al Helal

Tracing back the events before the Language Movement of 1952, Al Helal presents a detailed account of the events that unfolded during February 1952.

BOI MELA 2025 / 5 books to look out for at this year’s Boi Mela

Whether you’re searching for contemporary works by emerging writers or timeless classics from renowned authors, this list highlights must-read books that deserve your attention during your visit.

⁠⁠Features

⁠⁠Features

FEATURE / Whose language matters: On inclusion, identity, and silence

The panel supplied a critical as well as emotional commentary on the issues of linguistic hegemonisation, power imbalances, the marginalisation of non-Bangali languages and identities, and the aftermath of the revolutionary spirit of July 2024

ESSAY / The power of Qasidas and devotional poetry in deepening Ramadan reflections

While core acts of devotion take center stage, qasidas (Islamic odes) and devotional poetry serve as powerful complements, enriching the experience of Ramadan and deepening one’s spiritual reflections

EVENT REPORT / ‘Bengal Photography’s Reality Quest’: A discourse with Naeem Mohaiemen

Throughout the session, Mohaiemen’s passionate, spontaneous, and engaging demeanour captivated the audience, fostering a deeper understanding of storytelling through images.

'A terrible beauty is born' in Gaza and West Bank

Pre-occupation Palestine had, to use Anglo-American poet WH Auden's words, "marble well-governed cities" full of "vines and olive trees." But Israel and its allies have turned it into "an artificial wilderness"

Desire, Identity, and the boundaries of silence

Saikat Majumdar, a professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University, is a writer whose works delve deep into the intricacies of identity, desire, and the tensions between personal yearnings and institutional expectations.

Michael Madhusudan Dutt: A pioneer of modern Bangla literature

January 25, 2025 marks the 201st birth anniversary of Michael Madhushudan Dutt

The Doppelgänger

It was actually a bit of a relief to sit on the terrace of the Gezira Pension and have a quiet breakfast before plunging back once more into the traffic of Cairo in search of a carriage to the museum.

⁠⁠Fiction

⁠⁠Fiction

FICTION / The heart remains a stone that does not skip through water

You tell me stories of the sea—of its waves, of how it speaks to you in a language only you can understand—whenever you write back to me.

KHERO KHATA / Egg drop soup

The cream colored bowl held the steaming, almost translucent yellow broth with traces of white, garnished by an array of green onions slashed in an angle.

KHERO KHATA / Fixed

The rain began at dusk, its cold fingers tracing the cracked panes of the house like an unwelcome visitor. By midnight, the storm had grown wild, wind howling through the trees, rattling the fragile bones of the dwelling. I stood before the door, my hand trembling on the tarnished brass handle.

The plebeians in the twilight

It was the shade of the ashwath that vanquished all one’s weariness from the fiery heat of Choitro. Or else it was not possible for fatigue to be eliminated so quickly.

The vanishing Ramanujan

The night after the story got published, Jamal stormed to my home at around 11 PM, drenched in the rain. That was the first and only time Jamal raised his voice against me

At the birth of death

One sits silently. Her eyes blink sometimes. Sometimes her lips tremble a little, or they don’t tremble at all.

Something smells fishy

The large green pond of Dhanmondi Lake was probably the first source of natural water that I had witnessed. It sheltered a huge number of people who have lived,

⁠⁠Poetry

⁠⁠Poetry

POETRY / The Birangona, un-buried

What matters when there's a Motherland to defend? 

POETRY / Pardanasheen

Tell me about this life you live behind the curtain…

POETRY / There is a point to this, I think

Here are a few things I learned in the one month we haven’t spoken

Delila’s quest (20 October 2014)

Li’l Del is walking all alone Li’l Del wants to find her way home.

1d ago

Home for rent

BDT 80,000/3200 ft2 — Two-storey building built during the late 1970s with three baths, two verandas, and two garages @ Dhanmondi 33 (also known as Lost Property Lane), Dhaka.

1d ago

‘Sunrise on the Reaping’: Fan service and repetitive themes weigh down ‘Hunger Games’ prequel

Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series has captivated pop culture with its bold take on tyranny, sacrifice, and resistance, spanning Katniss Everdeen’s blazing defiance in The Hunger Games (2008) to her final stand in Mockingjay (2010) against Coriolanus Snow’s cold cruelty.

3d ago

Stitching fragments of a city lost in time

In the contested notion of creating a ‘nation,’ few ideas provoke as much ire among the everyday citizens of a bordered entity as the concept of a space—one that carries with it the weight of instilling an identity.

3d ago

Memory speaks

Sometimes at early dawn / You overpower my eyelids / And won’t let me wake up

5d ago

Bluebird’s anthology

Who do I tell, sir? The walls do not listen, The roads do not answer back

1w ago

The morgues are full

In Gaza, the names of the martyrs slip through silence, lost to a world too distracted to listen

1w ago

Making headlines

We'll put up feigned politicians / And their fake promises instead

1w ago

6 literary characters we wish could join our Eid table

What if our Eid table had a few extra chairs reserved not for guests from our world but from that of the books we’ve loved throughout our life?

1w ago

A tapestry of traditions, joy, and growth

Beyond the celebration of Eid, this book also explores themes of love, loss, and the grief of spending a special occasion without a loved one.

1w ago