Essay / Celebrating literary minds: Reflections on editing festschrifts

26 September 2026 • Essay
“Festschrift” is a German word coined in the 19th century by combining ”fest”, meaning “celebration” or “festival,” with ”schrift”, meaning “writing” or “script,” to signify “celebration writing” or “festival publication.”

Literary Curtains / Patriarchy inversed: Reimagining Rokeya’s Ladyland in 2026

“Ladyland is not perfect,” remarks Sultana, one of the protagonists in the much awaited play, “Project Ladyland 2026”. Produced by HerStory Foundation in collaboration with the British Council and Women of the World Foundation, the play was greeted by a full house this weekend. Staged at the Bangladesh Mohila Samiti theatre, the performance made a splash on Friday, August 14.
Event Report / Special Discussion Marks Abul Hasnat’s Birth Anniversary: ‘Nabiner Shahittya: Shwapna O Shwapnabhongo’
19 July 2026
A special literary discussion titled ‘Nabiner Shahittya: Shwapna O Shwapnabhongo’ was held on Friday, July 17, 2026, at 5:00 P.M. on the third floor of Bengal Shilpalay in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. This discussion was organised to commemorate the birth anniversary of distinguished poet, essayist, and literary editor Abul Hasnat. The event brought together prominent writers and editors to discuss the literary pursuits of emerging authors and the pivotal role editors play in nurturing new literary voices.
News Report / Jamir Nazir wins 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize following AI review
3 July 2026
Set in rural Trinidad, “The Serpent in the Grove” explores themes of betrayal, survival and the resilience of a woman's will.

Malta: Room to Roam (Part I)

“Room to roam” remains my indelible imprint of this idyllic historical island. A less trodden route.
7 February 2020

Old Friendship

Old friendship like cold tea waits at your side
7 February 2020

Shaheen Akhtar Representing Multi-faceted Identities

Shaheen Akhtar is a notable Bangladeshi author, who won the Prothom Alo Best Book Award in 2004 for her novel Talaash, (translated into English as The Search and published by Zubaan, Delhi, in 2011).
7 February 2020

Mirzaad

My father was in the Pakistani army, so we moved frequently, every few years. Soon after I finished Grade 10 in 1966, we made a big move: from Chittagong to Rawalpindi.
31 January 2020

Letter Box

When I came here, to our new abode, I was quite surprised to see the letter box outside our flat. “Who writes letter these days?” I was wondering. After the death of my mother, my father decided to shift to this new flat. He wanted me to overcome the grief caused by the death of my mother as soon as possible. He was terribly worried about my well-being.
31 January 2020

Looking Back on Kazi Nazrul Islam’s Bisher Banshi

John Milton’s Areopagitica (1644) is a fine specimen of the prose polemic defending the freedom of expression and opposing the governmental licensing of publications and procedures of censorship.
31 January 2020

Two Poems

Where Hopes Don’t Die
31 January 2020

Legacy

With a familiar hunger
31 January 2020

In Memoriam

A part of my life over.
31 January 2020

In Between the Lamps

The pale yellow moon shone through the leafless winter trees. Their silhouettes were the only beauty in the dark between the lights of town. I hunted the imagined monsters that live in the dark. I was out in the fields where no one should walk alone.
24 January 2020

Lines Exchanged in Silence

“In Your Eyes I See Endangered Me”—Rabindranath Tagore
24 January 2020

A Heart of Snow

The wind sighs as if upset; the snow’s anxiety is audible, A capricious sky causes a few docile stars to descend, Horse-driven sledges home amidst the din of strewn snow— Portrait of a deserted highway at the edge of a horizon!
24 January 2020

Of Myths, Migrants and Misconceptions: A Personal Essay on Charges

The Reading Circle (TRC) a book club in Dhaka, started the new year with a Literary Encounter at the Goethe Institut onSaturday, January 4. The book for discussion was Charges by Elfriede Jelinek.
24 January 2020

Some Issues in Medieval Bangla Literature: Baru Chandidas and Vidyapati

It is undoubtedly a challenging task to characterize the world of medieval Bangla literature, given its rich diversity and staggering magnitude.
17 January 2020

The Pivotal Pariah

Poet-professor-translator Kaiser Haq is the most thorough man I have ever come across. Taking things with a grain of salt is not his style. His casual, albeit western, demeanor, may suggest otherwise and even hide the seriousness of purpose with which he approaches life as well as his creative works.
17 January 2020

SMI—a Tribute!

To think of Syed Manzoorul Islam—Manzoor bhai to me (but let me call him SMI in the rest of this piece!) —is to think of someone always in motion, whether in the everyday world we inhabit, or the life of the mind that he lives so intensely.
17 January 2020

Wild Boars, Flies, Love, Loss, Identity: Wild Boar in the Cane Field

The aforementioned line rises to utmost significance once the novel reaches its end. It would be better to leave this explanation untouched in the review for the readers’ sake.
17 January 2020

The Word

I like the idea of that lurking uncertainty in the background. It is the anticipation of what is to come feels exciting. And now here I am facing that uncertainty.
10 January 2020

Dorothy Wordsworth: The Muse of the Lyrical Ballads

It might seem strange to many that the muse of the revolutionary work Lyrical Ballads is no other than Dorothy Wordsworth, the younger sister of William Wordsworth.
10 January 2020

The Legend Rock

An Independent Scholar, Dilshad Rahat Ara was educated in Architecture at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and at the University of Melbourne.
10 January 2020
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