Bengali Literature
Manik Bandopadhyay's timeless works: A mirror to our frailties
On Manik Bandopadhyay’s 116th birth anniversary, his unsparing literary vision jolt us out of complacency with today's injustices.
Recollecting Bangladesh’s cinematic homage to Rabindranath
Rabindranath Tagore’s literary prowess extends far beyond the realm of literature. His creations have served as a beacon of inspiration for countless writers and poets who walked the path he paved.
#Perspective / Madhusudan Dutta: The writer who played with the gods
Hailed as the first modern poet and the first rebel poet of Bangla literature, Madhusudan’s rebellion against the conservative society and the contemporary style of literature was daring and the first step towards modern Bangla literature.
Home is where my books are
How do you pack 25 years of your life in two suitcases?
FEATURE / Begum Rokeya and Begum Sufia An enduring “mother-daughter” bond
Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and Begum Sufia Kamal (1911-1999), two icons in Bangla literature and culture, were not kins but kindred spirits.
The rebels of Madhusudan
Neeldhaja is the first Bangla poem to be written in the form of a letter; it places a female figure with a rebellious demeanor as the protagonist of a historical narrative.
Interview / ‘We are translators every day’: Arunava Sinha
You must read like a reader and not like an academic student. If the book you’re translating is a general book, it’s going to be read by readers. Intelligent readers perhaps, but readers nevertheless.
Where to start reading Samaresh Majumdar
Dipabali’s character in Satkahon said aloud what was on every girl’s mind.
‘The room by the window was Baba’s favourite’: Doel Majumdar
The last rites of the renowned writer, beloved by readers in both Bengals, was held yesterday.
What I write about when I write love stories
A long time ago, when I was a young writer who had just published his first collection of short stories and had just been married to a young and lovely woman, I wrote a love story in the first person, which created two unanticipated problems.
Kathaprokash celebrates author Mashrur Arefin's work
Four of Arefin’s novels have been published so far, alongside three books of poetry and critically acclaimed translations of the Iliad and of Kafka’s short stories.
Ahaduzzaman Mohammad Ali's 'Nakhshatra Nivey Jai': Poems well worth waiting for
A series of poems also reflect his ecological sensitivity to the machine in the garden and snakes and hyenas imperiling forests and rivers and Dhaka—the city he has lived in for most of his life.
Shaheen Akhtar’s ‘Beloved Rongomala’ (trans. Shabnam Nadiya) in a new edition from Westland Books
Based on an 18th century legend from Bangladesh’s Noakhali region, Beloved Ronglomala tells the story of one Queen Phuleswari, a child bride, and of Rongomala, a woman of legend.
In ‘Nehai’, Yusuf Muhammad’s doha verses explore the ceaselessness of life
The aim of a dohakar has always been to open the eyes of the masses. Many of the dohas written by the two prominent dohakars, Soroho-Pa and Kabir Das, have modernist, anti-establishment themes, criticising the social, political and religious conventions of their times.
Niaz Zaman's 'An Ekushey Anthology': Reminiscing Ekushey, 70 years on
Zaman has classified the pieces in two groups: "the early stories focus on the events that took place on 21 February—the processions, the police action and the deaths—while the later ones show how the attitude to Bangla has changed in these 70 years.
DhakaYeah designs book cover for HarperCollins India
The novel, first published in Bangla as Narach, is set in late 19th century colonial Bengal.
Humayun Ahmed and the language of Bangladeshi novels
His written language came close to spoken language due to the primitive and original style of Bengali syntax—simple sentence structures.
Mundanities, magic realism, Bangladesh—Shahidul Zahir’s novellas
The personal space is the same as the political sphere, the individual on the same strand as the collective.
July’s ULAB Literary Salon discusses Bangladeshi short story anthologies
An engaging discussion on translations unfolded at the event.