Maisha Syeda

His face was growing warmer, it seemed as though the intangible entity that was stinging his closed eyes was growing stronger.

The verses remind us that a withering, war-torn Earth can still birth new life and hopes of freedom.

When Coke Studio Bangla released Meghdol’s Bonobibi, their second song of season 2, listeners found themselves torn between loving the song and questioning it. Questioning as to why the song was done under the banner of Coke Studio, a project funded by an American-based multinational corporation; questioning what qualifies Meghdol, a band known for singing about urban life in Dhaka city, to sing about tales originating in the Sundarbans; and why the song didn’t delve deeper into the history and background of the stories they were trying to tell. It has raised a wider question about how music plays a role in storytelling.

“I wonder what she’ll wear tomorrow,” he mumbled as his eyes drooped shut.

I’m no musician; my knowledge of good and bad music goes much beyond the superficial but, what do I know of the technicalities that goes into creating something that emerges as an enchanting composition?

We find out that civilisation underwent the threat of extinction, where only a few survived. About 100 years later, Anika, a 19-year-old girl, comes across an orb-like glowing “machine” that is meant to “change the fate of the current humanity forevermore.”

Preexisting publishers are struggling to sustain in the market since the Covid-19 and the recent rise in paper prices. How are smaller and emerging publishers faring? 

The book will be launched at the Dhaka Lit Fest starting Thursday, January 5, where Rifat Munim is also hosting a session.

Be it for their nostalgic pull or the promise of escaping into a rich, evocative world, these tales have been consistent go-to’s for me over the years.

Even the Bangladeshi protagonist—merely referred to as Agontok (a stranger)—is established as an anti-hero, in contrast with the traditionally heroic Hercules, which I thought was an exciting change.

“We tried our best to keep the shop but the tides of change are upon us”, Bookworm announced on their social media today. 

“What Men Live By” opens like a children’s story—the way Matilda or most Roald Dahl books would start out—with simple, everyday events and straightforward descriptions. Eventually, though, one line caught my attention and I couldn’t help but smile:

“Free light source plus [a] dude I can sit and ruminate with, it’s perfect.” 

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.

Shabnam Nadiya was selected for The Ice Machine, her translation from the Bangla of Bangladeshi short story writer and novelist Wasi Ahmed’s Borofkol. 

The office started to clear out once the overhead clock struck five.

Chairing next year’s judges’ panel will be Leïla Slimani, the French Moroccan novelist known for books like Lullaby (2016) and Adèle (2019).

Despite the decelerating growth rate and with the country's population currently standing at 16.51 crore as opposed to just 14 crore in 2011—merely 10 years ago—overcrowding is still a massive cause of headache for most of us.

Glory is narrated by a vivid chorus of animal voices, while Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is partly told by the malevolent cancer travelling through the body of protagonist Lia.

When I noticed that Meghdol had released a song for the film “Hawa”, while scrolling through my YouTube homepage, I somehow knew that I would not be disappointed. Of course, this was a hunch owing to my eternal love for Meghdol. However, what I did not expect was to be moved by it to the extent that I was. It has been years since a piece of music managed to sincerely and deeply pull at my heartstrings to the level “E Hawa” has been able to.