Creative nonfiction / Growing up with a new nation: The Dhaka we once knew

After describing why this region is India’s gateway to realising its eastern ambitions, Sudeep soon cuts to the chase, stating that the Naga peace process is central to establishing peace in Nagaland and Manipur.

She would be the first woman in the history of Persian literature to publish poems that spoke openly of women, sexuality, longings, and equality.

Motherhood changes everything you knew about yourself and the world you had carefully curated for the past however many years you have been alive.

Twenty-eight years ago, on an overcast day, an astrologer, sitting at the porch of our ramshackle house, had predicted that my mother would never give birth to a male child.

Inscribe my name, beloved, With care and affection In the temple of your secluded heart.   Trace the beat of the music That plays in my soul In the anklets on your feet.

Our boat was docked by a sandbank on the other side of Shelaidaha. It was a gigantic strip of sand where the contour of a river could be seen.

Born in 1861, Rabindranath was brought up in a large family with an open, eclectic approach to culture, religion and the world of ideas. This receptivity to heterogeneous influences remained with him throughout his life, expressing itself in his thought, writings and practices

If there is one thing that worries me a little, it is that the strong trend for themes of sexual violence that began to appear during lockdown, continues to be favoured by a significant number of our domestic writers.

The forest was still in the early hours of a cold autumn morning. The silence was broken only by the breeze through the trees and the restless trickling of a stream running through the middle of a clearing.

I am one of the privileged few to have experienced Dhaka University—the nation’s citadel of higher education le plus excellent—from both sides of the spectrum, first as a student and then as an academic.

Men wearing wreaths uphold their sacred emblem - They extend an olive branch. Hold round-table talks on their next daring conquest. Fill banks with our blood. Build forts of crisp notes. Offer helpless smiles to victims of wars that they sell. They empty the bowels of our earth for oil, tie a string from end to end

The pandemic has disrupted the businesses of struggling booksellers, many of whom are still reeling from their losses. There are organisations that are helping booksellers, book readers, and both.

Read the article on The Daily Star website and on Daily Star Books’ Facebook and Instagram pages.

In the contemporary discourse on Bangladesh, its cultural legacies have overtaken its identity as a land of six seasons or as a riverine country.

The lifespan of a century gave Violeta Del Valle innumerable memories, and she tells her story in Isabel Allende’s new novel, Violeta (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022). Writing to one named Camilo—someone she loves more than all others—Violeta recounts the saga of a hundred years.

As the white hot sun pierced through the soufflé clouds on an afternoon a lifetime ago, my aunt and I leaned back a little too precariously on our rattan armchairs while talking about the allure of academe.

“My story concerns the lost souls of a metropolis”, the author tells The Daily Star, “those magnificent beasts that cannot find their places in a growing, sprawling cityscape.” 

Once upon a time, Aziz Super Market use to be a hub for cultural and literature activities. A culture of “thought and creation” developed centring around the book stores. Be it the famous hangout of Ahmed Sofa or the office or balcony of LittleMag - there was always people hanging out with a cup of tea. Aziz Super Market was a place where people would not only discuss books or cinema but also make them; for instance, ideas of short films or songs, among others, originated there.

What does our editorial process lack? Why can’t we hire good proofreaders? The answer lies in the economics of it. 

Celebrate the literary genius who inspires literature and media to this day.