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.

Critical Reception: A Comparison between Rokeya and Woolf

In a previous article titled “Rokeya and Woolf: Souls That Have Lived” (Daily Star, 8 Dec 2018), I discussed similarities and differences between Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).
11 January 2019

Music

Music is like a bridge, Between real and unreal It is the door that opens on the surreal.
11 January 2019

The Poet

In his lips was written submission. His moon shaped beard neatly combed,
11 January 2019

At the Train Station

I saw him. It was no mistake that it was him. No doubt, no confusion. He was there and it was him. It was that same face, nakedly visible over the pile of luggage surrounded by a number of people here and there, smoking, sipping tea, reading newspaper, or chattering among
11 January 2019

Doesn't the Success of a Writer Depend on the Muse?

Somerset Maugham famously said, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” Similarly, there are many ways in which a writer can achieve success — usually through a combination of luck, talent and connections — but the majority of writers struggle to work that combination to their own benefit.
11 January 2019

Those Pesky Palesimians

O Son of Ben-Zion, why have you not
4 January 2019

Karl Marx on India: An Assessment (Part II)

Marx correlates the decrease of Indian textile exports with the monopoly exerted by British muslins to India and the decimation of the population of Dhaka. To quote what he says about the impact of colonization on our city and the outcome of the fatal embrace of British colonial policy in our part of India:
4 January 2019

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN FIRE AND STONE

I've never told the truth
4 January 2019

The Curious Case of a Master-Spy: The Fictional Kim

What's in a name? Suppose you are given the name of a well-known character in fiction, could this determine the sort of person you
4 January 2019

The Bench

The bench was deceivingly inconspicuous with its chipped paint and creaky wood. It practically promised that if I sat on it, I could enjoy a feisty lunch in a brown paper bag and watch the pigeons fight over crumbs without any life altering events. Yet sometimes the unexpected happens in the most ordinary of places.
4 January 2019

Spoilers Alert: Meghnadhbadh Rahasya Revealed

Anik Dutta's 2017 movie Meghnadhbadh Rohoshya is a clever evocation of naxalgia. Fifty years after the Naxalbari movement, the
28 December 2018

Karl Marx on India: An Assessment (Part I)

In a Delhi bookshop this October, I came across Karl Marx on India. Edited by Iqbal Husain, former Professor of History at Aligarh
28 December 2018

Poetry

In Manzur Elahi's garden
28 December 2018

Editor's Note

Perhaps it is a little late, but here it is. A two-day international conference on Karl Marx's birthday titled “Language, Literature, Culture
28 December 2018

Living Amidst the Catastrophes of “the Living Contradiction”

“By its nature,” Marx writes in the climactic passage of a magnificent but very dense section of the Grundrisse, capital “posits a barrier
28 December 2018

When the Lights Went Out

I feel like unmasking myself, Because no one will see.
21 December 2018

The Blue Sparrow

The blue sparrow is about to fly away; it flaps its wings. I stare deep into its eyes in a rush and whispered, “Take me with you, please.”It accepts my request. Under its wings the blue sparrow takes me in, my sin, my soul and all of my unfulfilled aspirations.
21 December 2018

A Walk around the Home of Emily Brontë

Around 2014, while working on my dissertation on Emily Brontë, I suddenly realized that it was rather strange that I had never been to Yorkshire.
21 December 2018

Kaiser Haq Presents Shaheed Quaderi to the Anglophone Readers

Professor Kaiser Haq is not only Bangladesh's finest English language poets but one of the country's best translators as well. He translated Shamsur Rahman as early as 1985, when he was in his mid-thirties.
21 December 2018

Remembering Nehreen Khan: Prof. Syed Manzoorul Islam's Memorial Lecture at EWU

It was on a beautiful afternoon on 4 December, 2018 in S. M. Nowsher Ali Lecture Gallery at East West University Campus, Aftabnagar, Dhaka that Professor Syed
21 December 2018
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