Gaudy Boy, a New York based independent publisher that specialises in literature from Asia, has over the last couple of years steadily promoted Bangladeshi literature. Their literary journal, SUSPECT, has published stories by Nadeem Zaman, author of The Inheritors, the academic and editor Niaz Zaman, as well as young Bangladeshi writers such as Mir Arif. In 2023, they published Bengal Hound, the debut novel of the Bangladeshi-American author Rahad Abir. On January 11, 2025, this was followed up with the online book launch of writer and poet Mozid Mahmud's first novel, Memorial Club, translated into English by the author himself. The event was moderated by Jafreen Uddin, executive director of the Asian American Writers' Workshop. Shahriar Shaams, a book critic based in Dhaka, along with the author, took part in the discussion.

Mozid Mahmud has primarily been a poet, whose notable previous publications include Mahfuzamangal, a book of poetry, and Tumi Shunite Cheyo Na, a biographical fiction on Kazi Nazrul Islam. Memorial Club, his debut novel, had originally been published in 2020 in Bangla by Bhorer Kagoj Prokashon.

The virtual event began with Jee Leong Koh, publisher and founder of Gaudy Boy, introducing the speakers and briefly mentioning how Memorial Club was Gaudy Boy's first book-length work of translation. The event kicked off with readings from the novel by the author.

The discussion surrounding Memorial Club took diverse turns, from questions about the nature of translations to South Asian literature and Bangla epic poetic forms such as the Mangal Kavyas. The author talked about the challenges of literary translations and thanked his editors for the considerable edits that had to take place, adding that nevertheless, "The English and Bengali versions are more or less the same fundamentally."

Memorial Club is the story of Hasan, a young journalist, who gets arrested one night for allegedly seeking solicitation from underage women. What follows during Hasan's 40 days in detention and afterwards is a story of his shame, of retribution and the cyclical nature of predatory practices in society through a series of vignettes on myths, jinns, and folklore. Regarding a question by Shahriar Shaams about how he tackled the mythological aspects of his novel, Mozid Mahmud said, "Mythology is the tested language of time…it is easier because many of us believe in these, they believe in fairies and jinns, they live among us in society." 

When asked what he hoped from readers intrigued by the novel, Mozid Mahmud said, "We're all part of one world…I hope readers learn about Bangladesh and our aesthetics of the novel." 

The original Bangla version of Memorial Club is available at Baatighar, Pathak Shamabesh, and Rokomari. The English translation is available for purchase on Amazon.