Faiqa Mansab’s second novel, The Sufi Storyteller, is a quiet triumph—both elegiac and urgent, intimate and expansive. It arrives as a natural evolution from her acclaimed debut, This House of Clay and Water (Penguin Random House India, 2017), and yet it stands apart, not merely in ambition but in execution. Where the former was steeped in the politics of desire and gender within Lahore’s elite and unseen spaces, The Sufi Storyteller ventures across continents and metaphysical thresholds to bring forth something more elusive: the sacred, storied terrain of the inner world.
The absence of women in Feluda's world becomes not just a narrative quirk but a telling reflection of the cultural and social codes of the Bangali bhadralok
Other Pulitzer Prize winners in the arts included Percival Everett in the Fiction category for his novel 'James', Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in the Drama category for his play 'Purpose', and Marie Howe in the Poetry category for her collection, 'New and Selected Poems'
Pride of place above the fireplace in the sitting room of our little house in distant Blighty is a painting from North Bengal.
“I’m scared” a voice calls out.
31 years old moss-covered headstone
All Quiet on the Western Front (Little, Brown and Company, 1929), a semi-autobiographical novel authored by a German World War I veteran, Erich Maria Remarque, is one of the greatest anti-war works of literature—one that was published nearly a century back and still holds relevance today
How does one write about history? Certainly, there is the straight-forward, head-on approach, where a historical period is confronted directly by populating it with historical/fictional characters and portraying the times through their eyes.
How Haymitch Abernathy and Katniss Everdeen mirror each other’s legacy
Remembering the stateless poet Daud Haider
Farid Shaheb earned a fair bit at the office today. These days, because of the Anti Corruption Commission and newspaper journalists’ incessant pestering, he can no longer directly take the money offered to him.
Review of ‘Reframing My Worth: Memoir of a Bangladeshi-Canadian Woman’ by Habiba Zaman (FriesenPress, 2024)
There are any number of ways one can approach Rahat Ara Begum’s collection of short stories, 'Lost Tales from a Bygone Era: An Anthology of Translation of Urdu Stories', assembled, contextualised, and published in this book by her loving grandchildren and their siblings
Begum Rokeya was once described as a “Spider Mother” (makar-mata or makarsha janani) in her biographical account but there is nothing sinister in this metaphor. The image of the spider here symbolises the quiet, patient, and selfless labour of an educator, caring for children who were not her own. Shamsunnahar Mahmud, her close co-worker, wrote: “Day after day in this way, with the blood of her own breast, Spider Mother began to revive hundreds of baby spiders into new life.”
This year’s World Book Day theme, “Read Your Way,” invites readers to embrace their own paths, rhythms, and preferences regarding books
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?
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
'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies'
Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal’s 'Instruments of Torture' is a powerful literary collection that delves into the psychological and societal torments individuals endure, particularly focusing on themes of beauty standards and the representation of women. Each story in the collection is named after a medieval torture device, serving as a metaphor for the emotional and societal pressures faced by the characters.
Being a Dhakaite, your Eids in childhood were spent in mournful longings for something to happen.
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
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
Throughout the session, Mohaiemen’s passionate, spontaneous, and engaging demeanour captivated the audience, fostering a deeper understanding of storytelling through images.
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"
It was not often that I received odd parcels. True, my job at the paper did occasionally warrant a few peculiar hate-mail or rebuttals, but this was nothing of that sort
Mrs X's parents were not interested in spending money on their daughter's room because they would have to give her new furniture when she got married
In Gaza, the names of the martyrs slip through silence, lost to a world too distracted to listen
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mother, why is our sky so different?
standing at the bus stop with my shoes full of water
You thought you had escaped, didn't you? / Outran everything that weighed you down
Poet Daud Haider, known for his timeless poem Janmo-i Amar Ajanmo Pap (My Birth, My Eternal Sin), died while undergoing treatment at a Berlin hospital early yesterday (Bangladesh time).
Review of ‘Reframing My Worth: Memoir of a Bangladeshi-Canadian Woman’ by Habiba Zaman (FriesenPress, 2024)
Farid Shaheb earned a fair bit at the office today. These days, because of the Anti Corruption Commission and newspaper journalists’ incessant pestering, he can no longer directly take the money offered to him.
Begum Rokeya was once described as a “Spider Mother” (makar-mata or makarsha janani) in her biographical account but there is nothing sinister in this metaphor. The image of the spider here symbolises the quiet, patient, and selfless labour of an educator, caring for children who were not her own. Shamsunnahar Mahmud, her close co-worker, wrote: “Day after day in this way, with the blood of her own breast, Spider Mother began to revive hundreds of baby spiders into new life.”
There are any number of ways one can approach Rahat Ara Begum’s collection of short stories, 'Lost Tales from a Bygone Era: An Anthology of Translation of Urdu Stories', assembled, contextualised, and published in this book by her loving grandchildren and their siblings
This year’s World Book Day theme, “Read Your Way,” invites readers to embrace their own paths, rhythms, and preferences regarding books
There was a time, maybe not that long ago, when the only thing you needed for a perfect evening was a book
