Poets are expected to be “odd characters,” eccentric and reclusive, a riddle and a mystery. They live in a world of their own.

I cannot believe I am sitting next to him, yet again, on a plane. How many times we have done this, how many flights, transfers, holidays, my passport and ticket always with him, even my boarding card; he was the man, the head of the family, he held the travel documents.

Ten of the most important events in the life of Bangladesh’s National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Whenever Indians, Bangladeshis or Pakistanis come together to discuss literature, past and present, the question of English inevitably arises.

What? You too, my friend? Are you dead in that land you fled to last year, where you chose life for yourself (as you told me at the Coffee House on your last evening in Lahore, a week before you left Pakistan for good), and those two children and the woman, for whom you would have chosen – and once did choose – death with as little hesitation.

Bangladeshi born writer Zia Haider Rahman wins the James Tait Black Literary Prizes, Britain's oldest literary award, for his debut novel In the Light of What We Know.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing

The rain stopped quite a while ago but one felt the remnants of it dropping from the trees and the tall buildings.

I can't sit still, I love to talk, and reading and writing are my favourite activities. So when I first heard about Vipassana – a ten-day silent meditation retreat – I thought it sounded torturous.

“The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.”

Sitting in the armchair on his fourth floor balcony, the young master awaited his morning tea.

The career of the British concert pianist James Rhodes has been anything but conventional. He was more or less self-taught until he was 13.

SLR returns after a two-week hiatus, opening the door to Jean de La Fontaine's world of fables and taking a fictitious fleeting glimpse at what lies beyond our voices, our vision.

Today's children are familiar with the Harry Potter and Twilight series but once upon a time, Little Louis – the six-year-old son of Louis XIV of France was lucky enough to have the first collection of 124 Selected Fables of Jean de La Fontaine dedicated to him. La Fontaine and Fables are almost synonymous in French literature.

When the people left the room, wisps of their souls hovered around indefinitely, sniffing at corners and wafting around the legs of chairs.

Copies of Harper Lee's eagerly awaited novel Go Set a Watchman are now on sale in UK bookshops, where it was released at midnight.

Today's SLR starts with the story of a woman who became a mother, fell into being a maid, all in the hope of being…a woman.

She is dark complexioned, a little on the skinny side and of medium height.

Today we are heading to Thekkady. The Periyar forests of Thekkady has one of the best wildlife reserves and spice plantations, as well as treks and walks for the adventurous.

My heart has no other desire