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.
5 hour(s) ago
Books & Literature
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Books & Literature
FLASH FICTION / Pirouette of a phoenix
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POETRY / Memories
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Books & Literature
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Lessons in Chemistry : A novel that reads you
22 January 2026, 15:54 PM
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
EVENT REPORT / Md Ashanur Rahman receives the International Creative Arts Award 2025
19 January 2026, 17:38 PM
Books & Literature
NEWS REPORT / NSU DEML launches inaugural certificate course in creative writing
17 January 2026, 16:00 PM
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
REFLECTIONS / Moon, memory, manifesto: A personal, lyrical essay on Atrai
21 November 2025, 18:28 PM
Books & Literature
REFLECTIONS / The risk of becoming: Notes on translation and transformation
7 November 2025, 18:33 PM
Books & Literature
THE SHELF / 5 books on women’s everyday terror to read this Halloween: The horror that persists
31 October 2025, 13:45 PM
Books & Literature
THE SHELF / 8 books to read if you’re fascinated by the louvre heist
30 October 2025, 13:30 PM
Books & Literature
EVENT REPORT / Unveiling ‘The July Resolve': Stories of resilience & resistance
14 January 2026, 16:01 PM
Books & Literature
EVENT REPORT / Singing a 900-year-old song: Exploring Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam with Zeba Rasheed Chowdhury
3 January 2026, 10:26 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
EVENT REPORT / Zia Haider Rahman on his award-winning novel at NSU’s Colloquium series
7 November 2025, 11:48 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
EVENT REPORT / Stepping into the uncanny world of Franz Kafka
26 October 2025, 11:55 AM
Books & Literature
THE SHELF / 6 books that I read at the end of last year… I hated 5 of them
You know that feeling when you crack open a new book and you’re convinced that this is the knight in all its paperback shining armour that will save you from your reading slump? Yeah.
7 January 2026, 18:00 PM
Books & Literature
TRIBUTE / Remembering Razia Khan Amin: The pen that forged a generation’s courage
28 December 2025, 12:19 PM
THE SHELF / 5 books to rescue you from brainrot
17 October 2025, 14:45 PM
6 books that bring Bangladesh to life for diaspora teens
10 October 2025, 19:11 PM
BOOK REVIEW: GRAPHIC NOVEL / The tragedy of ‘Demon Slayer’
10 October 2025, 14:30 PM
THE SHELF / 7 lyrical fantasy books: Where prose becomes poetry
7 October 2025, 11:14 AM
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / In which Arundhati gives it those ones
1 October 2025, 18:00 PM
FICTION / The truth factory
12 September 2025, 18:54 PM
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / The Indosphere and its discontents
10 September 2025, 18:00 PM
Essay / Sonnet of the riverbank: Remembering Al Mahmud, the poet
29 August 2025, 19:49 PM
10 books to foster gratitude and pride during Ramadan
As the holy month of Ramadan continues, may these books serve as guiding lights, illuminating the path towards greater understanding, compassion, and happiness
22 March 2024, 08:20 AM
A list of life lessons
Set in 1979, this is a story of monsters—the ones who prey on the vulnerable, the ones that exploit our weaknesses, and the ones that we elevate to positions of power.
20 March 2024, 18:00 PM
The first American months
The sun was up. The sky was a perfect cerulean blue, the neighbourhood blissfully quiet. Through my window, I relished the sunny first day of 2020, with a cup of tea in my hand.
20 March 2024, 18:00 PM
A flowing conversation at Dhaka Flow Festival 2024
On the midday of a warm spring, Dhaka Flow Fest 2024 organised a delightful reading session at Baridhara Lakeside Rajuk Park with authors Farah Ghuznavi, Neeman Sobhan, Salahdin Imam, and Nahiyan Ameen
18 March 2024, 16:00 PM
‘Father of the Nation Bangabandhu’ marries the art of Japanese storytelling with the rich tapestry of Bangladesh’s history
A review of 'Father of the Nation Bangabandhu' (NRB Scholars, 2024) by ME Chowdhury Shameem and Iwamoto Keita
17 March 2024, 16:00 PM
There’s no way you’ll outrun a bear
Smoother violence fills our hearts
like charming splinters.
The irony is I am the first of my women
15 March 2024, 18:00 PM
Designing our past and for our future
The author, architect Tanwir Nawaz, besides expressing his thoughts, ideas, and artistic struggles within a body of professional works, has poured his emotions and nostalgic memories into Exploring the World of Architecture and Design.
13 March 2024, 18:00 PM
The ‘new oil’ transforming the world
Chip War, a highly praised book written by Chris Miller who teaches International history at Tuft University’s Fletcher School, USA, is a New York Times bestseller.
13 March 2024, 18:00 PM
A country coming to life
Weaving the grand themes of politics and history, the book is a revelation into how the ordinary lives within a country are buffeted by constant changes.
13 March 2024, 13:45 PM
‘Untranquil Recollections’: Revisiting the past with Professor Rehman Sobhan
On March 9, 2024, University Press Limited (UPL) hosted a discussion with Professor Rehman Sobhan, moderated by Dr Akhter Mahmood, on the two volumes of 'Untranquil Recollections'
12 March 2024, 15:00 PM
Stories of survivorship, courage, and hope for a country that cares
A closer look into these stories reveal reasons why cancer continues to be dreaded—it is not just fear of the malady itself, but also the challenges of undergoing treatment through an overburdened healthcare system and its exorbitant costs.
12 March 2024, 11:20 AM
‘Living Letters’ with Iffat Nawaz: A shared journey towards resolution and emotional clarity
On March 5, 2024, the writer held the inaugural session of her writing workshop series, “Living Letters”, at The Daily Star Centre in collaboration with Goethe Institut Bangladesh, Sister Library, and Star Books and Literature
10 March 2024, 12:11 PM
In another life, I’d still live as her
I've lived as her; / I've known my mother’s plight.
8 March 2024, 04:21 AM
Manga on Bangabandhu wins bronze medal at 17th Japan International Manga Award
On 5 March 2024, at the 17th Japan International Manga Awards, a manga portraying the life and struggle of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman received a bronze medaeruml, making it the first Bangladeshi manga to be featured in and to have won such a prestigious award
7 March 2024, 16:38 PM
Bangladesh beyond geopolitics in a new multipolar world: what’s new in foreign policy trajectory?
Both the China and India factors in Bangladesh’s foreign policy decisions, as identified in Li Jianjun and Deb Mukharji’s chapters, will be continuously evolving and contributing factors that would perhaps influence Bangladesh’s policies with other countries as well.
7 March 2024, 13:45 PM
7 fiction books featuring women in STEM
With International Women’s Day coming up tomorrow, 8 March, it becomes increasingly important for us to not only identify and acknowledge, but also actively work towards alleviating the stark gender gap in STEM fields
6 March 2024, 18:00 PM
TRIGGER WARNING: Agency, autonomy, and female smoking
A month ago, as I waited for a friend in Banani, I decided to grab a packet of cigarettes. I’m not good at calculations for loose change and the vendor, old and seemingly disoriented, was having a hard time too.
6 March 2024, 18:00 PM
Unveiling the mind’s maze: Fosse’s ‘Aliss at the Fire’
A review of Jon Fosse's ‘Aliss at the Fire’ (Dalkey Archive Press, 2010)
4 March 2024, 13:45 PM
D's Bistro unveils 'Golper Provat' in celebration of international mother language day
The stage was then graced by accomplished writers, each sharing unique insights. Mahbubur Rahman highlighted the importance of entertaining communication for writers.
3 March 2024, 13:45 PM
A tale of existential crisis in the modern world
The plot sheds light on a privileged modern experience where time stands still, stopping the clock as the days and nights roll and go.
29 February 2024, 15:45 PM