Beyond stereotypes: Rupert Grey’s ‘Homage to Bangladesh’

Rupert Grey, a descendant of Charles Grey and best known professionally as a leading libel and copyright lawyer stood against this statement. “If Bangladesh is a basket case,” Grey tells The Daily Star, “then it is so in the best possible way.” For him, the term collapses under the sheer vitality of the country. A single square metre of a Bangladeshi street, he argues, holds more energy than entire neighbourhoods in London. Where life in England often unfolds in rigid routines, Bangladesh thrives in spontaneity—where a hanging lighter at a tea stall can become a moment of shared choreography.
2 hour(s) ago Books & Literature
FLASH FICTION / Pirouette of a phoenix
24 January 2026, 01:48 AM Books & Literature
POETRY / Memories
24 January 2026, 01:36 AM Books & Literature

EDITORIAL / Why read?
22 January 2026, 00:00 AM Books & Literature
THE SHELF / 7 new books to look out for in 2026
22 January 2026, 00:00 AM Books & Literature

INTERVIEW / Reclaiming the unwritten: Kanika Gupta on colonialism, embodiment, and the art of remembering

Gupta shares her insights on reclaiming forgotten histories, reimagining myths, and connecting ancient narratives to contemporary ecological and social concerns.
22 November 2025, 11:51 AM Books & Literature
EVENT REPORT / An eco-critical look at Sultan: Reading the manuscript of ‘Sultan Er Krishi Jiggasha’
With the aid of Duniyadari Archive, Pavel Partha’s soon-to-be-published book Sultan Er Krishi Jiggasha is a new addition, which looks at Sultan’s work from an eco-critical perspective.
8 November 2025, 11:43 AM Books & Literature
NEWS REPORT / “Curious love letter”: Wole Soyinka responds after US cancels visa
He responded to the situation with grace, mentioning “I like people who have a sense of humour".
30 October 2025, 10:45 AM Books & Literature

Poetry for our times and a poet’s new frontier

Inevitably, Kaiser Haq’s The New Frontier and Other Odds and Ends in Verse and Prose is about the poet, his poetic predilections, and situatedness at this time of human existence. In many ways it is typical of the verse we have come to expect from our leading poet in English for a long time now, but in other ways it articulates his present-day concerns in new and striking poetic measures. 
15 May 2024, 18:00 PM

Musings of a romance reader

Navigating the lines between gender politics, feminist beliefs and love for romance
15 May 2024, 13:45 PM

Beyond the page: Podcasts discussing POC authors

The following are podcasts that focus on POC writers, a list made because of the heavy Eurocentrism still present in the lists and bookstores known around Bangladesh.
14 May 2024, 13:45 PM

Remembering Haider Akbar Khan Rono: Dreamer of the day

The beloved writer and activist passed away on May 11, 2024
12 May 2024, 14:00 PM

Should this lost novel have been found?

Articles on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s last novel to be published by his sons against the author’s wishes built up my anticipation and I couldn’t wait for April to arrive. Thanks to Bookworm, I got my copy the moment they had it in store and I read it twice. It didn’t impress me the first time as it was just a string of chapters describing how a promiscuous woman drove herself into the arms of different men on her annual August 16 visits to a Caribbean island.
8 May 2024, 18:00 PM

A perfect cup of literary ‘saa’

Priyanka Taslim greets me with a gentle smile as we meet over Zoom. She is eloquent and our conversation flows organically, akin to an adda over a cup of saa (cha).
8 May 2024, 18:00 PM

Sister Library reads Sehri Tales

The aim of the event was to promote the vibrant tales written by female writers who participated in the Sehri Tales challenge this year
6 May 2024, 14:00 PM

It’s ‘Mean Girls’ meets ‘Heathers’ meets ‘The Craft’

The best part of this book is perhaps the fact that all the weird, bonkers cultish stuff just happens with no rhyme or reason to it.
4 May 2024, 13:48 PM

(Re)visit to the alleys of contestation, narratives, and memories that the Partition left behind

The book discusses the lack of sensitivity among policymakers in acknowledging the distinct socio-cultural differences and linguistic and community identities of the refugees that often got merged. It explores how different categories of refugees received different treatments.
2 May 2024, 19:48 PM

A love letter to traveling with friends

A review of ‘Roaming’ (Drawn and Quarterly, 2023) by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
1 May 2024, 14:00 PM

A sweet treat

The love of the city prevails over the love of kulfi
26 April 2024, 14:00 PM

6 Books to add to your summer reading list

As summer rolls around and our lifestyle changes to adjust to the heat, so do a lot of our books! So here are a few books that might make a good addition to this year’s summer reading list.
24 April 2024, 18:00 PM

The stories we want to tell: In conversation with Gemini Wahhaj

In Gemini Wahhaj’s debut novel, The Children of This Madness (7.13 Books, 2023), the follow the lives of engineering professor Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena, an aspiring PhD candidate living in the US.
24 April 2024, 18:00 PM

The endless scream

A reflection on Mahmoud Darwish’s 'A River Dies of Thirst: Diaries' (first published by Archipelago in 2009)
24 April 2024, 14:05 PM

Uncovering history through storytelling

In conversation with Reem Bassiouney on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, 'Al Halwani', and bridging the cultural gap
21 April 2024, 14:00 PM

The strange library of Haruki Murakami

Review of the Bangla translation of ‘A Strange Library’ (Knopf, 2014) by Haruki Murakami
19 April 2024, 13:45 PM

PublishHer Excellence Awards winners announced at Bologna Children’s Book Fair

Mitia Osman, CEO and publisher of Mayurpankhi and the executive director at Agamee Prakashani, won the Emerging Leader Award
18 April 2024, 14:00 PM

The unanticipated consequences of caretaking

From the sensory delights of birdsong in the morning and sunset views from a lookout point to the less appealing realities of monitoring stagnant pond water and counting newts, we accompany Katie on her journey of discovery.
17 April 2024, 18:00 PM

Unveiling voices: Ananke’s Women in Literature Festival 2024

Featuring a diverse lineup of 38 authors from 9 countries—including UAE, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Scotland—the festival promises three days of engaging panel discussions,
17 April 2024, 18:00 PM

‘The day begins wrong’: Mastering tension and suspense in fiction

In my creative writing classes, whether at the University of Toronto or the Hermitage Residency in Bangladesh, I emphasise that any student of fiction must first master suspense
17 April 2024, 18:00 PM