BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Let the queen rest in peace
23 October 2025, 14:55 PM
Book Review: Nonfiction / Charting the south’s path
22 October 2025, 18:00 PM
FICTION BOOK REVIEW: Fragments of memory and regret
22 October 2025, 18:00 PM
ESSAY / Leonard Cohen: Verses of mercy and turmoil
22 October 2025, 13:45 PM
THE SHELF / 3 Partition stories for young readers
21 October 2025, 13:45 PM
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A bit of Fry & Homer
18 October 2025, 11:15 AM
Fiction / Free at last
17 October 2025, 18:58 PM
REFLECTIONS / Autumnal offerings for seasonal readers
17 October 2025, 18:58 PM
THE SHELF / 5 books to rescue you from brainrot
17 October 2025, 14:45 PM
Connecting generations through stories
Some of my most fervent memories from my chaotically loving childhood is of my Nanuji gathering all of us cousins, big bowl of rice and curry in hand ready to be prepped into balls and stuffed into our ravenous mouths, while reading Sukumar Ray’s 'Hajabarala' and 'Abol Tabol'.
23 September 2022, 09:00 AM
Race and unease in Mohsin Hamid’s ‘The Last White Man’
In The Last White Man, Hamid uses an anodyne, clinical voice to set an atmosphere of unease of a white society panicking within, as a wave of darkness intrudes their skin, turning them impure, perhaps wild.
21 September 2022, 18:00 PM
Of diverse princesses and demigods: Is racebending in fantasy adaptations enough?
Progress is underway, but some studios are still hiding behind the curtain of racebending as if it will solve all of the problems of race innate to cinema itself. Nonetheless, all of it matters—Ariel and Annabeth being portrayed by young Black women—because what we read and watch feeds our imagination.
21 September 2022, 18:00 PM
‘Books must make you see things differently': Sunandini Banerjee of Seagull Books on the art of book cover design
The process of designing a book is a combination of the practical and the creative.
21 September 2022, 18:00 PM
Talent Management in the Post Pandemic World
The book recognises that human capital is the main determinant of organisational performance in modern business and knowledge-based institutional sectors.
20 September 2022, 12:04 PM
'Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Le messager du qawwali' launched at AFD
“I deeply admire Mr Khan for his glorious contribution to the music industry. Despite all the cultural differences, his songs resonate with everyone. I remember being mesmerised after witnessing his magic for the first time back home", shared author Dr Pierre-Alain Baud.
17 September 2022, 07:54 AM
ULAB Literary Salon to discuss freedom of speech today
Writers of both fiction and non-fiction have come under increasing pressure and censorship across South Asia. To discuss these issues, the fifth ULAB Lit Salon brings together a diverse group of experts drawn from policy and its practice, publishing, and media.
17 September 2022, 06:32 AM
A new reader’s guide to Agatha Christie’s world of crime
Published in 1920, this was Christie’s debut novel that introduced readers to her unconventional detective, Poirot.
16 September 2022, 16:09 PM
SHOUTxDS Books presents ‘Slam Poetry Nights’ — Episode 1
The poems ranged from mental health issues to individual freedom of expression and every musing in between.
15 September 2022, 11:58 AM
How I became Tamijer Baap in ‘Khowabnama’
I found myself looking for him beyond the pages of Elias's novel, among the old men who beg on the streets of Dhaka, or in the madman lying on the footpath, trying to say something in a huff or lost in a hallucination on the open road.
14 September 2022, 18:00 PM
The possibilities of slam poetry
The evening of September 8 at The Daily Star Centre saw an outpouring of verses to a live and very interactive audience. Daily Star Books and SHOUT jointly launched our series of Slam Poetry Nights—an evening, every month, of verses recited in the spirit of creative freedom.
14 September 2022, 18:00 PM
Akbar Ali Khan: the “Learned” and self-critical scholar
He intended to break down the jargon of economics, history, politics, and the theories behind it and make them palatable to the everyday readers. He inspired people to take part in shaping the tools and mechanisms that drive the governance of the state.
14 September 2022, 18:00 PM
The Little Mermaid: Has Disney sanitised our expectations from fairytales?
Thanks to 2023's The Little Mermaid, Black and brown girls can finally see themselves as princesses in a film where the protagonist's skin colour is not as instrumental to the story as the princesses' heritage was in Aladdin, Mulan, and The Princess and the Frog.
14 September 2022, 13:24 PM
'Infinite Library': An immersive experience of civilisation at Goethe Dhaka
The Infinite Library did not have books. It consisted of virtual spaces, a set of "eight jars" or volumes that—using a VR journey through the users' phones—told the story of our planet's evolution, starting from the beginning of cosmic dust to human consciousness.
14 September 2022, 06:46 AM
‘Sisters In The Mirror’ deconstructs the concept of "oppressed Muslim women"
"While the book is based on academic research, I've tried to write it for the 'interested educated reader'".
12 September 2022, 12:45 PM
Anyone can be a hero: Why I love ‘Percy Jackson & The Olympians’
From mental health struggles to characters with different racial and LGBTQ+ backgrounds, the series shines a light on people—and heroes—of diverse identities.
11 September 2022, 13:00 PM
In ‘Nehai’, Yusuf Muhammad’s doha verses explore the ceaselessness of life
The aim of a dohakar has always been to open the eyes of the masses. Many of the dohas written by the two prominent dohakars, Soroho-Pa and Kabir Das, have modernist, anti-establishment themes, criticising the social, political and religious conventions of their times.
11 September 2022, 09:25 AM
Economics, literature, history: Akbar Ali Khan in books
Dr Khan focused on Bangladesh’s historical roots as “the last major nation-state to proclaim its identity” —a country that changed its statehood twice in less than 25 years.
9 September 2022, 12:58 PM
In the aftermath of the Palestinian catastrophe—'Minor Detail' by Adania Shibli (trans. Elisabeth Jaquette)
This book is an essential read to understand the extent of the erasure of Palestinian history after the Nakba and life under tyranny in its cities.
7 September 2022, 18:00 PM
A deep dive into a poet’s mind
He had lost touch almost completely with his craft, so much so that he wondered if he even had it in him. But even so, for the sake of writing, he wrote. When the pandemic hit, Helal batted off the dust of his desk and sat down to write. Sitting from a foreign land, the ink flowed again.
7 September 2022, 18:00 PM