The Shelf / The quiet grief of becoming ordinary
19 June 2026, 00:00 AM
The Shelf
What to read / What we’re reading this week
14 May 2026, 00:00 AM
What to read
Book Review: Nonfiction / Fara Dabhoiwala’s history misses the one thing that truly matters
1 May 2026, 00:00 AM
Non-fiction review
Reflection / Harper Lee at 100: An enduring echo of justice
28 April 2026, 20:10 PM
Literature
Tribute / Humayun Azad and the courage to dissent
24 April 2026, 00:00 AM
Books & Literature
Interview / Writing what silence carries: Mohua Chinappa on memory, pain, and inheritance
24 April 2026, 00:00 AM
Features
Not just child’s play: Bengal’s rhymes as cultural memory
13 April 2026, 20:12 PM
Culture
Book Review: Nonfiction / Love, wounds, and the making of ‘Hemingway’s Women’
10 April 2026, 00:00 AM
Books & Literature
An Ekushey Book Fair breaking with tradition
21 September 2025, 13:05 PM
Books & Literature
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / An outlandish jumble of cults, cannibalism, and colonial violence
19 March 2025, 18:00 PM
Books
THE MUSE
Each writer born must have a muse,
Or so I’m told, for if they do,
And if they should, do they know how
To let it in or haven’t found
6 September 2019, 18:00 PM
Abul Mansur Ahmed’s Ayna: A World of Satire in the Light of Art
Ayna, a collection of seven short stories by Abul Mansur Ahmed was published in 1935. Written through the span of 1922- 1929, these pieces were published in Saugat edited by Muhammad Nasiruddin. The stories were satiric in structure, reflective in observation,
6 September 2019, 18:00 PM
Adieu, Perpetual Migrant!
The virtuoso with the pen Rizia Rahman has ended her terrestrial sojourn on 16th August, just a few months shy of entering her octogenarian phase. A prolific writer treading most of the domains of creative writing, she has left an indelible personal mark on our literary landscape.
6 September 2019, 18:00 PM
Nation, Identity and Alternative Bangla Cinema: Conversing with Tanvir Mokammel (Part II)
SH: In 2011 you made a mega-documentary on 1971. What research on governmental policy documents went into the use of firearms by the Muktijoddhas as shown in your film, or as generally shown in films on the Liberation War?
6 September 2019, 18:00 PM
Searching for the Loved One: From the pen of a bereaved father
It was on August 25, 2018, an evening just after the Kurbani Eid holidays, when Mr. Kamran, 66, a returnee from Dubai, went to Banani graveyard, Dhaka to visit his mother’s and father’s graves. After saying prayers he asked the caretaker of the graveyard “Do you have any empty grave?”
30 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Nation, Identity and Alternative Bangla Cinema: Conversing with Tanvir Mokammel (Part 1)
Tanvir Mokammel hails from Khulna, which is also the workplace of Prof. Sabiha Huq. This past February, when he was in Khulna for the launching of his partition novel Kirtinasha, the English Department of Khulna University became the privileged venue for a
30 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Angels and Monsters
One late afternoon, dragging his injured leg Kamal finally stood in front of a particular door of a shanti. For some strange reason, he could not enter the house as he used to even five months ago. He called out in a trembling voice, “Nuru! Where are you, my son? I’m home.”
30 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Two Poems
I was led to delusion,
30 August 2019, 18:00 PM
When She Misses Him (2009)
A sudden stillness!
30 August 2019, 18:00 PM
On loving childhood reads as an adult
I have been recovering from a very long and arduous block in my reading life, a block that could not be broken by the fattest or
29 August 2019, 18:00 PM
The Beggar
Though I called out to the shopkeeper a couple of times, he didn’t heed me. He was too busy rearranging the products on the rack. As I was waiting for him to respond, a middle-aged beggar woman turned up on my left and begged for money from me. At first, I
23 August 2019, 18:00 PM
The Fifteenth of August
The crimson hue is still in the morning sky.
23 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Why Is Writing So Difficult to Accomplish?
Writing is a struggle for everyone. If it seems easy, a writer is not doing it right. Because writing is mired in myths and misunderstanding, most writers – aspiring writers, in particular – consider the essential difficulty in writing as a pathology. They feel
23 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Ghoulish Sentiments
Slumped with our luggage we got off the train looking apprehensively at the quaint sight before us. Saplings and balding grasslands carpeted serenely with occasional trees of variety here and there. The scenery struck me with great unfamiliarity in contrast to the city
23 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Dsc Prize for South Asian Literature, 2019
Instituted by Surina and Manhad Narula in 2010, the US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is one of the most prestigious international literary awards specifically focused on South Asian writing. It is a unique and coveted prize and is open to authors of any
23 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Review of Arundhati Roy’s Things that can and cannot be said
After I finished Things that can and cannot be said, I stood in awe of how much power I held in my hands. In this slim volume were the musings, passing insights, and finally, the long-awaited encounter—albeit censored—of some of the strongest voices against modern-day empire.
22 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Fragrance
Just as Azhar Kha was about to leave the room putting his shirt on, Lily made an entrance, “Baba, you promised!”
10 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Daughters of the sun
Rehana takes hesitant steps towards her house. Her Niqab renders the landscape a transparent shade of black smoke.
10 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Memoir of a Serpent Woman
I am Ranire, the serpent woman who lives in the rubbles of Al-Hammar Palace. Yes, you heard right—the accursed and legendary half woman and half snake that wanders in the desert land of Ukh-Tarar.
10 August 2019, 18:00 PM
Life Theft Auto: Vice City
“CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER”—the instruction pops up on the brand new 32-inch curved monitor’s screen. “Hmm… Which one? Which one should I select?” Genghis Khan murmurs.
10 August 2019, 18:00 PM