The novels are small revolutions, each seeking to energise and awaken the language. Together, they offer startling portraits of the current.

Listening is stretching beyond ourselves and another, and if we were to listen to printed words on paper as non-verbal cues of communication, it too emits lower frequencies that moves us, beyond the I, towards new modes of knowledge.

With statistics backing her up, Broussard does a stellar job of portraying this bias for the readers with stories from individuals who have faced such discrimination. The book opens with the story of Robert Julian-Borchak Williams who gets wrongfully identified by a police facial recognition technology and gets taken into custody.

Having read an account of someone who stood by her husband and helped him through an assisted suicide out of love was extremely heart-wrenching.

The concept of self-improvement is by no means a new one, rather the notion is in the foundational structures of moral well-being. The centuries old Socrates commandment, “Know Thyself” is at the very crux of what self-improvement consists of.

The cozy atmosphere was set up by Bookworm Bangladesh, with the owner Amina Rahman kicking things off. Both Press and Hoque read out excerpts from their own books.

The book is especially relevant in the context of Bangalee women’s life because usually while talking about Islam and women, the West fails to take the South Asian Bangalee women into account.

There is a sense of inexorable catharsis, and dare I say— spirituality—when the protagonists begin their journey into one another since they alone embody the ideas and predicaments of the text. 

It must be surreal to observe the same moon from another destination of the world, from a place that is unfathomable to you, that for a long time seemed like a stranger.

How do you pack 25 years of your life in two suitcases?

It was impossible to explore all the kisoks in a single outing, with there being 900 of these bookstalls in total hosted by around 200 sellers, straddling both sides of the Seine riverbank.

Over the last 30 years, he has received multiple national and international literary awards for his work. He is, currently, the vice-president of PEN International, Bangladesh chapter. 

I often feel overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of new books that I still want to read—so many stories, so little time—and understand that this is an ambition that rereading can only delay.

Divakaruni has a message to send with this novel. To her, independence entails not just liberation or freedom from subjugation, it also means doing the right thing for oneself and for the people around us.

The crux of the issue is whether or not good books are reaching the intended readers.

Although the story doesn’t talk about how this particular cafe became a time-travelling spot to begin with, reading through to the last page made me feel that the café was always there-since the beginning of time.

Although the book is written in English, he has plenty of doubt to dispense about the language, its usefulness, acceptance, and communicability when it comes to writing and creating art in Bangladesh.

The ambition was to popularise Bangladeshi manga. At first the initiative was voluntary but later they succeeded to commercialise the publication.

Some of UPL’s best selling titles include 'Political Parties in India' (2022) by Abdul Razzaq and a Bangla translation of Yuval Noah Harari’s 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' (2014).

For iftar during that month we were served milk with rosewater which I found quite delicious, and gulab jamun served as dessert. When some girls didn’t want or didn’t finish their portions they would give it to me and I would accept happily.