Book Review: Graphic Novel / Till human voices wake us and we drown
2 July 2026
Sami lives in a tiny fishing village off the coast of the Bay of Bengal, eking out a living alongside his grandfather fishing in the same rising waters that claimed his parents and his childhood home.
2 July 2026
Talespeople spiels / Dancing in the dark
26 February 2026
The 10th anniversary of anything is a momentous milestone. Strapped in as we are on a rollercoaster through some very strange times, though, the journey of this humble little Ramadan ritual feels particularly fateful.
26 February 2026
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The imperfect art of leaving
3 September 2025
In a recent conversation I had with a well-regarded photographer about his longitudinal study on a subject, he talked about Sufism and the structure of the raagas in classical music where a single refrain being repeated was actually an inward search for deeper meaning.
3 September 2025
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A pantheon of parables
16 April 2025
‘Fit for the Gods: Greek Mythology Reimagined’ (Vintage, 2023), edited by Jenn Northington and S. Zainab Williams, is a collection of classic myths with a twist
16 April 2025
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The apocalypse is already here
10 January 2025
From A Handmaid’s Tale (McClelland and Stewart, 1985) to The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008),
10 January 2025
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / I love you; it’s ruining my life
4 December 2024
Someone in a chat group somewhere called Sally Rooney the ‘Taylor Swift’ of the literary world, and now I cannot unsee it.
4 December 2024
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Sad men behaving badly
6 November 2024
In January 2023, I was sitting in the crowd, listening in on a panel at the 10th and possibly the final edition of the Dhaka Lit Fest. Sheikh Hasina had already been in power for almost 15 years, and it felt like the sun would never set on Awami League, at least not in my lifetime.
6 November 2024
TALESPEOPLE SPIELS / Everything you need is already inside you
5 April 2024
The mid-month slump is probably the most demoralising part of the Sehri Tales challenge, even for long-time Talers.
5 April 2024
Once more, with feeling
Last year, we got to see some stellar writing and some incredible art. What was more inspiring than the quality of work produced during the holy month, was the community that was formed in the process.
4 April 2022
Take a bow
With the moon up and celebrations already underway in a few countries, it’s a wrap for Sehri Tales 2021.
13 May 2021
Of words and limits
A frequently-asked question during this year’s Sehri Tales was ‘why the 250-word limit?’ My knee-jerk reaction has been to want to snap ‘Do you also ask why a limerick has to be five lines, or a haiku three?” Since anger never solved anything, I figured a more level-headed explanation was necessary.
6 May 2021
All together now
We just crossed the ten-day mark for Ramadan this past week, and the 1000 posts for this year’s Sehri Tales challenge. I don’t know if the thrill of crossing these milestones ever wears off – it certainly hasn’t for me.
29 April 2021
I turn to you
I created Sehri Tales in 2016 as a coping mechanism for some melancholia I was experiencing at the time. I knew that the exercise was calming and centering for me, but I didn’t quite think about writing’s potential to heal until I partnered up with the online readers’ community Litmosphere, in 2018.
22 April 2021
Words that bind
Some experts say that the “superpower” that puts us humans – weak, slow, and lacking any physical advantages over the natural world – at the apex of
15 April 2021