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.
'Enter': Sehri Tales selections, Day 16
The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 16 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Entry
The magic of muscle memory
While talent might determine the quality of the writing, and many of our Talers have these in buckets, the basic skill is actually a result of something more mundane: consistent practice.
Dhaka’s Arman Chowdhury shortlisted for Commonwealth Short Story Prize ‘23
“Deficiency Notice” presents the daily life of an 11-year-old boy who is speech-impaired
‘Turn’: Sehri Tales selections, Day 13
I'm not sure when I realised we'd met before. At first, you were just the elderly man seen pottering around our communal rooftop.
‘Changes’: Sehri Tales selections, Day 11
The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 11 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Change
‘Puzzle’: Sehri Tales selections, Day 10
The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 10 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Puzzle
4 fully funded Creative Writing MFA programs in the US worth exploring
While Canada, and now some programs in the UK, have also started offering the degree, it is in the United States that it is most common and rigorous.
‘Little’: Sehri Tales selections, Day 9
The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 9 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Little
Iowa’s International Writing Program now open to Bangladeshi youth
The virtual creative writing summer camp will take place from July 8 to 21, 2023. Applications are due by April 21.
‘Remember’: Sehri Tales selections, Day 5
The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 5 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Remember