Ali Imam, the author of more than 600 books, breathed his last on Monday evening in the Bangladesh Medical College Hospital in the capital’s Dhanmondi area.

A long time ago, when I was a young writer who had just published his first collection of short stories and had just been married to a young and lovely woman, I wrote a love story in the first person, which created two unanticipated problems.

Four of Arefin’s novels have been published so far, alongside three books of poetry and critically acclaimed translations of the Iliad and of Kafka’s short stories. 

A series of poems also reflect his ecological sensitivity to the machine in the garden and snakes and hyenas imperiling forests and rivers and Dhaka—the city he has lived in for most of his life.

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.

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. 

Zaman has classified the pieces in two groups: "the early stories focus on the events that took place on 21 February—the processions, the police action and the deaths—while the later ones show how the attitude to Bangla has changed in these 70 years.

The novel, first published in Bangla as Narach, is set in late 19th century colonial Bengal. 

His written language came close to spoken language due to the primitive and original style of Bengali syntax—simple sentence structures.

The personal space is the same as the political sphere, the individual on the same strand as the collective. 

An engaging discussion on translations unfolded at the event.

As I have grown older, my mind is calmer but it’s a void now, empty of any voice.

If this collection proves anything, then it’s that Bangalees will take to poetry like flies take to freshly cut mangoes on a hot summer day.

A designer and illustrator whose work focuses on human rights, feminism, and South Asian identity, Malik has just created an artwork based on Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s novella Sultana’s Dream (1905), which imagines a feminist utopia where women dominate the world of science, labour, and their homes. 

Through Imaan's interactions with the world outside of the central jail in Kolkata, we meet rickshaw pullers, street hawkers, and tea-stall owners, who belong mostly to the lowest strata of the society and come from highly marginalised caste and economic backgrounds.

Hasan Azizul Haque, who passed away on November 15, 2021, began his career with the publication of the short story “Shokun” in 1960, and since its publication till today, it has shocked and stupefied most readers who have found their way to this unique and masterfully crafted story—reading it is not an experience one forgets easily, or ever.

Shaheen Akhtar’s 'Beloved Rongomala', translated from the Bangla novel, 'Shokhi Rongomala' (Bengal Publications, 2015), by Shabnam Nadiya, will now be published by India’s Eka imprint of Westland Publications. The novel tells the story of Queen Phuleswari, a child bride, and of Rongomala, a woman of legend—a low caste mistress to the king who protested the limits to which her rights were confined by the class and caste prejudices of 18th century southern Bengal.

The prestigious Nazrul Award 2015 is to be accorded to Nazrul Sangeet exponent Sadya Afreen Mallick and Professor Abu Hena Abdul Awal.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated her call for extensive and quality translation of classical and popular books of Bengali literature into other languages to reach out to world readers.

Humayun Ahmed is the most celebrated writer of contemporary time and one of the best story tellers in the history of Bangla literature.