CREATIVE NONFICTION / Our Eids and Puja in Azimpur

30 May 2026, 00:00 AM Books & Literature
In 1970s Azimpur, the two Eids and Durga Puja were the punctuation marks of our year—days when stairwells, verandas, and a single playground turned many flats into one home.

Interview / Writing what silence carries: Mohua Chinappa on memory, pain, and inheritance

Thorns in My Quilt (Rupa Publications India, 2024) unfolds through address rather than disclosure. Written as a series of letters to her father, Mohua Chinappa’s memoir traces memory not as a sequence of events, but as an emotional inheritance shaped by silence, expectation, and the subtle negotiations that govern family life.
News Report / From the ashes: Gaza’s first grassroots library rises amid genocide
12 April 2026, 21:43 PM
Two Palestinian writers, Omar Hamad and Ibrahim Massri, have been working since late 2025 to build a library in Gaza during the ongoing genocide. The Phoenix Library is located in the heart of Gaza City and, per a post from the library’s Twitter/X account, is fast approaching its official opening date despite the Gaza Strip and all of occupied Palestine still being subject to Israeli apartheid violence.
NEWS REPORT / Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me secures 2026 NBCC Award, continues global recognition
28 March 2026, 17:07 PM
Celebrated author and activist Arundhati Roy’s 2025 memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me (Penguin, 2025) continues to solidify its place in the zeitgeist and its cultural impact well into 2026, with its recent win at this year’s US National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Award in the Autobiography category.

Prompts

The pavements are hotter in winter, the rain never wets the asphalt and I never tell you to do anything else other than “be”. 
21 September 2023, 13:55 PM

RRReading

Even if you are not a film enthusiast, chances are high that you have watched the 2022 Telegu blockbuster RRR. At the very least, you should have heard about it.
20 September 2023, 18:00 PM

A modern love story in translation

I became an ardent admirer of Amrita Pritam, the maverick Punjabi author, an outspoken critic of the Indian patriarchy and discriminating social practices, three decades back in New York when I was putting together an anthology of world feminist poems in Bangla translation.
20 September 2023, 18:00 PM

The alter ego of Agatha Christie

Absorbing these books is like viewing the world through the writer’s eyes—the pain she felt, the love she did not receive and the manner she perceived the people around her.
20 September 2023, 15:55 PM

The records of resilience

Much of the reminiscences in The Murti Boys encompass the grittiness of staving off the Pakistanis with little weaponry and a great deal of quick thinking. 
19 September 2023, 15:00 PM

The fearless, experimental poetry of Binoy Majumdar

As time passed by and as the poet made an introspection in seclusion, he dug up such verses which to the reader might feel like a revelation of truth.
18 September 2023, 15:00 PM

Eminent author, journalist Gita Mehta passes away

Mehta also directed the documentary film Dateline Bangladesh based on her time stationed in Bangladesh during the war.
17 September 2023, 12:32 PM

"Abul Mansur Ahmad had been constantly fighting for change in the society”

Describing Abul Mansur Ahmed as a multi-faceted personality, the speakers said that from a sense of responsibility to the society, he has constantly fought for the rights of citizens, freedom of speech and change in the society.
17 September 2023, 12:00 PM

The colour of revolution is red

And along with our bodies, the rage keeps on, / we chafe and bleed and clot and steer; / we go mad and nude
16 September 2023, 15:22 PM

Love, when you’re an adrenaline junky

And in spite of knowing this/ In spite of the absurdity of it all/ You let yourself fall
15 September 2023, 18:00 PM

The Writer

The lad appeared to be very humble and slowly took a seat. But I noticed that he did not take his eyes off my face even once. He kept on staring at me through his glasses.
15 September 2023, 18:00 PM

Rethinking Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the humanist

Despite his caste-consciousness and critical depiction of the social prejudices of colonial Bengal, he never directly opposed them; in his real life, he was an upholder of traditional Hindu patriarchy and Brahmin-dominated caste society.
15 September 2023, 14:00 PM

A paean to storytelling

Following the trails of Imaginary Homelands (Penguin Books, 1992) and Step Across The Line (Modern Library, 2003), comprising essays written and lectures given by Salman Rushdie between 2003-2020, Languages of Truth is Rushdie’s third collection of nonfiction works and is as a delectable read as its predecessors if not more.
13 September 2023, 18:00 PM

When all else fails, satirise

This week, the Daily Star Books compiles a list of satirical fiction for our readers to feast on. In sociopolitical climates rife with crackdowns and censorship, satire takes on the burden of giving a voice to matters that cannot be spoken about otherwise.
13 September 2023, 18:00 PM

The occult thrills of ‘The Centre’

Rarely does a book arrive, a debut no less, that feels as inventive and accomplished as Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s The Centre. Her novel is built on the crossroads of interpretation and ownership, of the power of language and of those privileged enough to reclaim it.
13 September 2023, 18:00 PM

When literature meets food

The author paints an engrossing picture of her experiences and memories, both influenced by food, which is true for most of the people in this world, and particularly for South Asians.
13 September 2023, 15:25 PM

‘The Dark Elf Trilogy’: The synergy between the novels and graphic novels

By visually capturing the characters, landscapes, and action scenes, the graphic novels enhance the reading experience and offer a fresh perspective on the beloved story.
13 September 2023, 13:55 PM

5 books for readers with an appetite

The Hundred Foot Journey is the story of an immigrant Indian family who sets up a restaurant right in front of a famous French relais and the feud it ensues.
11 September 2023, 22:25 PM

The brilliance of Bibhutibhushan: Of sensations, details, and accentual intimacy

Bibhuti Babu’s pen tenderly reveals the nudity of apparently disturbing feelings and emotions that we are so ashamed and afraid to accept and express.
11 September 2023, 22:09 PM

The beauty of translation and Tagore’s lyricism

"This book is a way for me to express my own emotions associated with Tagore’s lyrics”, Fakrul Alam shared his thoughts at the launch of 'Gitabitan'.
11 September 2023, 22:00 PM
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