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.
25 January 2026, 12:24 PM
Books & Literature
FLASH FICTION / The rickshaw artist
24 January 2026, 01:52 AM
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
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
5 warm and cosy books to read this Christmas
One of my favourite Christmas activities is getting comfy under the blanket with a new book. It’s true that you can read anything you want all year, but for me this day calls for some holiday-themed Christmas specials that are set to make your reading sessions extra cosy.
25 December 2022, 12:30 PM
Orwell's novel of repression '1984' tops Russian bestseller lists
Orwell said he had used Stalin's dictatorship as a model for the personality cult of the all-seeing Big Brother, whose "thought police" force cowed citizens to engage in "doublethink" in order to believe that "War is peace, freedom is slavery".
25 December 2022, 09:11 AM
Mariah Carey's life and career detailed in a new comic book
In 22 pages, Carey’s childhood and rise to fame is outlined in vivid color with illustrations by Pablo Martinena.
24 December 2022, 10:55 AM
A fairytale ending
Football, bloody hell! Like the chapters of a book, slowly unfolding towards the eventual climax, this edition of the World Cup has been nothing short of breathtaking. From gorgeous goals to late drama, with a few major upsets sprinkled throughout, this year’s World Cup has probably been the most spectacular iteration of football’s greatest tournament.
23 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Time
It's June–the first day of Summer,
You have never come home empty-handed,
And I stand by our apartment door,
Eye the lift as it totes between floors.
23 December 2022, 18:00 PM
That Christmas Eve, Santa did not come home
December 24 had always been one of the most awaited days of the year for us. The grand birthday cake for Jesus' birthday, the roasted sausages and meatloaves, and finally, a house-favourite, narrating the story of the Three Wise Men–that is how I had spent Christmas Eve for as long as I could remember.
23 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Love does not die in Maitreyi Devi’s 'Na Hanyate'
While talking about rebels wanting to liberate the country from the British, the author cannot help but ask the question of who will liberate the people—people like her and her mother who, even after being in the most progressive of the families, could not do what their hearts desired and were perpetually subdued.
23 December 2022, 08:36 AM
Bias and bigotry shaped Churchill’s politics in South Asia
Churchill played a crucial role in achieving the partition of the country on communal basis in 1947.
22 December 2022, 02:00 AM
Around the world in bookstores
Spectacular is the bookstore in Buenos Aires El Ateneo Grand Splendid; a former opera house built in 1903 and now shelved with books in a massive remodelling exercise.
22 December 2022, 00:00 AM
Sister Library brings back ‘Sultana’s Dream’ and the chance to create one’s own utopia
The zine-making workshop was divided into four groups based on the central themes of Begum Rokeya’s story: arts, social justice, city planning and science & education.
21 December 2022, 12:00 PM
AI-generated book receives criticism on the internet
Tthe story of a little girl named Alice and a robot named Sparkle who explore the frontiers of science and technology together.
19 December 2022, 11:54 AM
The poetry of football commentary
Commentary transcends into a place where it sprinkles the power of words over the raw emotional journey of live sports.
18 December 2022, 16:04 PM
Six of my favourite winter reads
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.
18 December 2022, 11:48 AM
Catch spooky horror tales this winter!
Catch more ghost stories like this from the winners of 'Winter Night Ghost Stories' competition all throughout winter, every weekend, here.
17 December 2022, 07:01 AM
Leaf
I saw a leaf falling yesterday.
The wind took the leaf on its back then disappeared.
17 December 2022, 06:54 AM
Matsyanayam
Luna strode then to the river’s bank, her loose-fitting blouse and petticoat flapping in the breeze that had speedily arrived. Her nupur, fashioned from mollusk shells, sounded in the wind like wind chimes, and more so when she moved.
17 December 2022, 06:32 AM
5 books to read on Victory Day
The book covers the crucial role of the Bangladeshi diaspora and the international community during the Liberation War in garnering international attention.
16 December 2022, 12:51 PM
An ordinary day, with monsters in our jungles
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.
15 December 2022, 13:55 PM
Shehan Karunatilaka, Daisy Rockwell and Geetanjali Shree to speak at the 10th Dhaka Lit Fest
The winners of the 2022 Booker Prize and the 2022 International Booker Prize—Shehan Karunatilaka, Daisy Rockwell and Geetanjali Shree—will be speaking at the 10th Dhaka Lit Fest.
15 December 2022, 10:39 AM
Behind the scenes of the Dhaka Literary Festival 2023
Literature is our main area of interest.But we also want to highlight areas of intersection between literature and science, politics, pop culture, human rights, and new media.
15 December 2022, 04:37 AM