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.
9 hour(s) ago Books & Literature
FLASH FICTION / The rickshaw artist
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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

Navigating the Ekushey Boi Mela

With rows upon rows of book stalls offering everything from timeless classics to contemporary bestsellers, navigating through this maze of books can be both exhilarating and overwhelming
15 February 2024, 11:52 AM

The stories that nonfictions tell

Dense textbooks with words more twisted than the shapes my lips could contort themselves into—for the longest time, my perception of non-fiction didn’t deviate from this singular image.
14 February 2024, 18:00 PM

A twisted tale of deception

Reading this book was uncomfortable, like a car crash waiting to happen, it was hard to read and even harder to put down.
14 February 2024, 18:00 PM

The enchanting realism in Shahaduz Zaman’s ‘The Mynah Bird’s Testimony’

Shahaduz Zaman is a familiar face in Bangladeshi literature, whose literary career spans decades of fruitful work. He regularly writes columns for Bangla newspapers, has written a few notable biographical fiction, such as Ekjon Komolalebu (Prothoma, 2017), based around the life of Jibanananda Das, and has garnered some duly needed appreciation for ethnographic work on the history of medicine during the liberation war.
14 February 2024, 18:00 PM

Webtoon recommendations for the romantic in you

If you are into a lot of angst, this webtoon is perfect for you. It’s not a typical love story of second chance, but an emotional roller coaster ride.
14 February 2024, 13:33 PM

Girlfriends, girlhood and everything else Dolly Alderton knows about love

Review of "Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir" (Penguin, 2018)
11 February 2024, 14:55 PM

#BooksForGaza: Writers hold fundraiser to help Gaza's children

As these accomplished authors join hands for the #BooksForGaza initiative, the auction’s mission statement outlines a powerful commitment undertaken by luminaries of the literary world.
10 February 2024, 13:16 PM

5 new releases to look out for at Boi Mela this week

With the advent of the most anticipated literary festival for lovers of the written art, we have curated a list of five books for you to keep your eyes open for at Amar Ekushey Boi Mela this week. 
9 February 2024, 13:45 PM

3-day conference to be held in honor of literary magazine’s 20th anniversary

There will be a total of seven sessions held over the course of February 8, 9, and 10 where various topics will be discussed by participants, ranging from litterateurs, artists, and accomplished literary personalities.
8 February 2024, 11:53 AM

Tucked between moving trains and elegiac dead-ends

Some among us might have wondered what it feels like to hold a lit bomb between our palms. One that will go off inevitably yet its spark, heat, force, weight, and pulsating nature are so fascinating that we are unable to put it down or look away, all the while knowing at the end of the wick we too will be destroyed—a chosen death, a voluntary annihilation.
7 February 2024, 18:00 PM

Rehman Sobhan’s recollections of the road he took towards December 16, 1971

The title of the first of Professor Rehman Sobhan’s two-part memoir suggests that it is about his “years of fulfilment”; the subject matter of its sequel therefore would be about the “untranquil” years that followed.
7 February 2024, 18:00 PM

9 most anticipated new releases of 2024

In 'Knife', Rushdie pens in delicate detail the unforgettable events of August 12, 2022, giving out to the world his verdict on the act of violence
6 February 2024, 14:11 PM

James Joyce was never more profound than in 'Dubliners'

The universality of Dubliners is found not just in its structure as a short story collection, but also in the minute details of the way the people inhabit the stories, the city, and the world at large. The way they breathe help the city come to life, and the geography of the city has never been better realised by Joyce than right here
4 February 2024, 12:31 PM

What we represent and who we are

As we close the curtains on the first month of the new year and step into the second, here at Star Books and Literature,  we are thinking back on the year we had.
31 January 2024, 18:00 PM

The heart will lead you back

Originally from Massachusetts, international development consultant Elizabeth Shick was living with her family in Yangon, Myanmar from 2013-2019 and got to witness not just Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy win the 2015 elections by a landslide, but the military crackdown on Rakhine state that led to the Rohingya exodus into Bangladesh in 2017.
31 January 2024, 18:00 PM

An exploration of Hinduism and its honest interpretation

It’s been a while since I had been meaning to get my hands on a book by Shashi Tharoor, and when my sister asked me what she could get me from Kolkata, I immediately said I’d love to read a book by the renowned Indian author, politician, columnist, and critic.
31 January 2024, 18:00 PM

6 magazines accepting international submissions for fiction, poetry, and everything in between

To help save you the effort and to hopefully nudge you a little to submit your work, here are a few magazines around the world accepting international submissions for this year.
30 January 2024, 13:45 PM

Creating sisterhood through Literature

Even the chilly Friday morning did not dampen the excitement as the audience came to support the writers who narrated parts of their works at the event.
28 January 2024, 15:45 PM

Court rules: Elif Shafak found guilty of plagiarism

The court also ruled that the Türkiye-based Dogan Kitap Publishing House was liable for material compensation as well as moral damages.
28 January 2024, 12:45 PM

The House With No Clocks

There are no clocks inside this house. The walls are quiet, the windows loud.
26 January 2024, 18:00 PM