Maisha Syeda

“Free light source plus [a] dude I can sit and ruminate with, it’s perfect.” 

Based on an 18th century legend from Bangladesh’s Noakhali region, Beloved Ronglomala tells the story of one Queen Phuleswari, a child bride, and of Rongomala, a woman of legend.

Shabnam Nadiya was selected for The Ice Machine, her translation from the Bangla of Bangladeshi short story writer and novelist Wasi Ahmed’s Borofkol. 

The office started to clear out once the overhead clock struck five.

Chairing next year’s judges’ panel will be Leïla Slimani, the French Moroccan novelist known for books like Lullaby (2016) and Adèle (2019).

Despite the decelerating growth rate and with the country's population currently standing at 16.51 crore as opposed to just 14 crore in 2011—merely 10 years ago—overcrowding is still a massive cause of headache for most of us.

Glory is narrated by a vivid chorus of animal voices, while Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is partly told by the malevolent cancer travelling through the body of protagonist Lia.

When I noticed that Meghdol had released a song for the film “Hawa”, while scrolling through my YouTube homepage, I somehow knew that I would not be disappointed. Of course, this was a hunch owing to my eternal love for Meghdol. However, what I did not expect was to be moved by it to the extent that I was. It has been years since a piece of music managed to sincerely and deeply pull at my heartstrings to the level “E Hawa” has been able to.

Here are some books that, for their various tropes and themes, go hand in hand and allow us to relish these July evenings.

I remember Ma through her books as well, the little of her thoughts and ideas that she could share with the young me then.

Lifestyle-induced backpain is now such a systemic problem that even if wanted to change it, we wouldn’t know where to begin or how to keep up.

"I selected excerpts from eight famous works, books like Begum Rokeya’s 'Motichur' and 'Ekattorer Diary' by Sufia Kamal, and expanded on their implied or intended meaning as best as I could."

From the trailer it looks like Zoya Akhtar's Archies has a wider cast of main characters than Riverdale, but what we want to see is the original comics' innocence revisited.

Going live from May 15 is The Myth Bridge, a live-action simulation game that “[brings] to life” and connects nine women characters from Bengali and German folklore. 

“My story concerns the lost souls of a metropolis”, the author tells The Daily Star, “those magnificent beasts that cannot find their places in a growing, sprawling cityscape.” 

Reversal of fairy tale tropes and themes of mental health and alienation run dominantly across One Minute Past Midnight (Nymphea Publications, 2022), a debut collection of poetry and prose by poet and teacher Arshi Mortuza. 

Chevening scholar, author, and head of business development at The Daily Star, Shuvashish Roy, has published his first work of fiction, Chamakiya O Biggani Bhajaghata (Gyankosh Prokashoni, 2022), released at the Ekushey Boi Mela this year. 

Hashi Begum, from Uttar Manoshitola village in Barguna, took matters into her own hands when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit. She not only resolved to take care of her own family but her community as well.

Remember the song “Pappu Can’t Dance Sala” from “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na”? It might come as a surprise to many people that that bespectacled individual was the genius behind the brilliant romance/drama, “Kapoor & Sons”. This year, Shakun Batra proved again that he is as brilliant as they come in Bollywood. ‘Pappu’ might not know how to dance, but he sure can direct! Released on Amazon Prime Video, under the notable Dharma Productions banner, Batra has co-written and directed yet another romantic drama–but with a few twists.

In a live YouTube broadcast, The University Press Limited (UPL) launched their book, An Internal Matter: The U.S., Grassroots Activism and the Creation of Bangladesh, written by Samuel Jaffe, at 7 PM on Saturday, January 15, 2022.