March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path. (Khalil Gibran)

One day in November 1986, Dr Shamim Khan – friend, colleague, and at that time an assistant professor of International Relations at

Why have I kept silent, held back so long,

Today's SLR is dedicated to the German novelist, social critic, artist and Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass who died on 13th April. He was 87.

Kaavya Viswanathan's novel, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, And Got a Life” is a prime example of plagiarism.

"Chhotoder Anandabarshiki", a ceremony on the launch of the fourth instalment of a series of children's books published in five volumes

Only a handful of contemporary writers and publishers produce work for child readers, although there is no alternative to good books

Once in Darjeeling, when I was 12 years old, I remember standing in front of a smallish bank, staring at all the flowers neatly planted in rows.

I wake up to the chirping of birds. So many different types of sounds! There are beautiful Koels singing on the tree tops.

Karl Marx once said, “Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.”

Saad Z. Hossain writes in a niche genre of fantasy, science fiction and black comedy with an action-adventure twist.

Today’s SLR is all about accomplishing what you have set your heart on. We meet Bangladeshi author Saad Z. Hossain whose debut novel was recently released in USA.

The glorious backwaters of Kerala have been calling me for years.

I suspect that the qualities useful to an aspiring writer are very similar to those considered desirable in a writer who is already successful.

Aspiring writers are invited to send in a short story or poem that must contain the number “twenty-two” in some form or manner.

I have just finished the draft of a novel. I shall ask a couple of people to read it – a fellow novelist with whom I've swapped work since we were both beginning our first books ten years ago, and a nonfiction writer I can trust to be honest about her response.

In commemoration of the Bangladesh Independence Day on 26th March, today's SLR starts with a poetic salute to our past; moves on to a proclamation of love for our present; and ends the poetic trail with an optimistic wish for our future.

I sing of Heroes

Not gold, not silver, not pearl, neelam it is not.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;