creative writing

ESSAY / ‘The day begins wrong’: Mastering tension and suspense in fiction

In my creative writing classes, whether at the University of Toronto or the Hermitage Residency in Bangladesh, I emphasise that any student of fiction must first master suspense

Talespeople Spiels / A house a bit bigger on the inside

Playing with a location that seems real but is not is a tricky line to negotiate, and writer beware: you will be attacked

ESSAY / To read as an academic: The transformative journey of a reader turned student

I became curious as to how the experience of reading might change for someone who studied it for a living, and how the lens of a literature student might differ from that of a creative writing one

ESSAY / The first semester is your shitty first draft

Like many veterans, I joined a creative writing MFA program because I wanted to evolve as a writer.

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Patuatuli and a young girl’s love for glasses

My love affair with spectacles has long been regarded by my mother as nothing but a symptom of my dramatic nature.

CREATIVE NONFICTION / Homeward

When I was born, my skin was dark, like my grandfather’s, in whose arms I discovered my first home. Relatives old and new, whose disappointment was being nursed by my parents’ fair complexions, looked from afar as my rotund cheeks melted into the sleeves of my dada’s discolored half-sleeve shirt.

OPINION / What you call your own

As an Anglophone writer in Bangladesh, I’ve frequently faced the rather inane question of why I write in English.

Pandemic Nocturne 1: December Dirge

Ask me not of Grief. For I have been burnt by its friendly fire with blood and bits of oozing mortal flesh spun flaky and ashen by its biting cold breath.

ULAB Creative Writing Certificate Course returns

This year’s sessions will be facilitated by eminent academics, writers, and professionals in their field, such as Professor Kaiser Haq, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor Azfar Hussain, Professor Shamsad Mortuza, Arifa Ghani Rahman, and Maisha Hossain.

April 18, 2024
April 18, 2024

‘The day begins wrong’: Mastering tension and suspense in fiction

In my creative writing classes, whether at the University of Toronto or the Hermitage Residency in Bangladesh, I emphasise that any student of fiction must first master suspense

April 14, 2024
April 14, 2024

A house a bit bigger on the inside

Playing with a location that seems real but is not is a tricky line to negotiate, and writer beware: you will be attacked

March 22, 2024
March 22, 2024

To read as an academic: The transformative journey of a reader turned student

I became curious as to how the experience of reading might change for someone who studied it for a living, and how the lens of a literature student might differ from that of a creative writing one

January 25, 2024
January 25, 2024

The first semester is your shitty first draft

Like many veterans, I joined a creative writing MFA program because I wanted to evolve as a writer.

January 6, 2024
January 6, 2024

Patuatuli and a young girl’s love for glasses

My love affair with spectacles has long been regarded by my mother as nothing but a symptom of my dramatic nature.

October 14, 2023
October 14, 2023

Homeward

When I was born, my skin was dark, like my grandfather’s, in whose arms I discovered my first home. Relatives old and new, whose disappointment was being nursed by my parents’ fair complexions, looked from afar as my rotund cheeks melted into the sleeves of my dada’s discolored half-sleeve shirt.

September 28, 2023
September 28, 2023

What you call your own

As an Anglophone writer in Bangladesh, I’ve frequently faced the rather inane question of why I write in English.

September 2, 2023
September 2, 2023

Pandemic Nocturne 1: December Dirge

Ask me not of Grief. For I have been burnt by its friendly fire with blood and bits of oozing mortal flesh spun flaky and ashen by its biting cold breath.

July 12, 2023
July 12, 2023

ULAB Creative Writing Certificate Course returns

This year’s sessions will be facilitated by eminent academics, writers, and professionals in their field, such as Professor Kaiser Haq, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor Azfar Hussain, Professor Shamsad Mortuza, Arifa Ghani Rahman, and Maisha Hossain.

July 7, 2023
July 7, 2023

“Fragile Things”: How ghosts and spirituality make it into writing

Participants, including the show’s hosts and guests, picked up discarded pebbles, photo frames, children’s artwork, and other knick knacks—all fragile things collected and displayed by the author.