literature

The alterities of hunger

In two of the more prominent fictional works that are part of the diasporic South Asian literary production, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, food is presented as a conceptual apparatus that makes palatable the tensions of ‘multiculturalism’ and offers a critique of class barriers—if not always at the level of economics, but at the level of consciousness.
8 September 2023, 18:00 PM

Dining at Oxbridge: “Formal”, please

I was a little anxious. It was only the second day of my life at the University of Cambridge, and I was already bombarded with instructions on how to dine.
6 September 2023, 18:00 PM

jani dekha hobe

that single spot, shunyo, a hole that is filled to its circumference, I drive and the sun is bigger than I’ve ever seen and orange, look directly into it or, i had to write a poem to go along with the first
1 September 2023, 18:00 PM

In the sand dunes

His face was growing warmer, it seemed as though the intangible entity that was stinging his closed eyes was growing stronger.
1 September 2023, 18:00 PM

Kundera's 'The Joke': Tyranny, anywhere, is a threat to democracy

The Joke quickly became one of the many works of literature to be banned after the Soviet invasion, and Kundera was blacklisted.
20 August 2023, 02:00 AM

Remembering Mahasweta Devi: The blueprint of subaltern activism and literature

While novelists such as Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Sanjeeb Chandra Chattopadhyay adopted an ambiguous position on caste discourse in their writing, Mahasweta Devi's fiction explicitly delineates the Dalits and adivasis as political, social, and psychological beings embroiled in multiple levels of oppression.
28 July 2023, 05:00 AM

'Small World City': A new speculative literary magazine on the horizon

The creators of Small World City believe that Dhaka’s literary community deserves better recognition and representation, both domestically and globally.
26 July 2023, 14:42 PM

An afternoon with Abeer Hoque and Nupu Press: A celebration of creativity

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.
23 July 2023, 14:50 PM

Monsoon in Bangla literature

Bangla literature is quite rich and monsoon holds an interestingly large part of it. Some might say that monsoon in literature is a sub-genre of Bangla literature and it’s probably not an unfair claim. But monsoon in Bangla literature has such a major impact that it’s challenging to finish that discussion in one small article.
19 June 2023, 11:41 AM

Will-o’-the-Wisp

The sky to the west and overhead is mired in darkness; but to the east, light is gleaming out like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.
16 June 2023, 18:00 PM

In Extreme Need of Guidance

On summer days when the sunlight falls through the trees it scatters into a play of light and shadows on the ground. My memories of Fareed are like that.
15 June 2023, 13:30 PM

Our 'entangled freedoms'

The curtailment of free speech and writing is especially distressing for the liberal classes in the US, given the values enshrined in the First Amendment with its guarantee of freedom of expression and the press.
8 June 2023, 01:00 AM

5 "own voices" romance books that will warm your heart

The path towards truly diverse representation in literature necessitates that marginalised authors are given the chance to tell their own stories and shape our understanding of diverse experiences. 
31 May 2023, 14:51 PM

Z Library is back for public use

Late last year, on November 4, the domain names of Z-Library were seized by the US Department of Justice after Booktokers began sharing the link publicly.
27 May 2023, 10:49 AM

On mothers and reading

I wonder at how these frugal, accessible pleasures define her daily existence and get elated with the fact that reading takes up a significant space on the shelf
14 May 2023, 12:55 PM

A gripping portrayal of one of Greek mythology’s most strong-willed women

We witness her ferocities that are little associated with the common understanding of a “just” ruler. We see her as a loving mother, while also finding the fallibilities of motherhood flawlessly seamed into the storytelling.
12 May 2023, 12:29 PM

Alternative routes

The book as a whole is a rigorously pursued exercise in the close reading of a fascinating and diverse array of modern texts that aren't quite in the category of the canonical mainstream.
28 April 2023, 18:00 PM

South of the Border, West of the Sun – A love story that haunts you

This book is a fantastic introduction to Haruki Murakami’s world of literature.
19 April 2023, 10:56 AM

The great Padma story

Shorn of its sacred grandeur the Padma has embraced its secularised and earthier image with some muscularity, audacity and flair.
13 April 2023, 07:47 AM

Five books by Muslim authors you should read

These books reflect a part of the world and culture in which we live.
2 April 2023, 14:05 PM