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

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

How ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ mirrors the social media age

To me, Wilde’s novel articulates the deepest anxieties of the late Victorians and continues to offer us ways to interpret our own experiences.
16 October 2022, 09:42 AM

Kathaprokash celebrates author Mashrur Arefin's work

Four of Arefin’s novels have been published so far, alongside three books of poetry and critically acclaimed translations of the Iliad and of Kafka’s short stories. 
16 October 2022, 06:13 AM

Love, fate, and age-old curses: 'The Book of Magic' by Alice Hoffman

The familial bond portrayed in the novel makes it easy to sympathise with the characters and they rarely seem woven in a piece of fiction; rather, their attributes are more lifelike and one may just find someone like Franny or Gillian Owens among their kith and kin.
15 October 2022, 13:00 PM

10th Dhaka Lit Fest will include Nobel Prize winners Orhan Pamuk and Abdulrazak Gurnah

After a two year hiatus caused by Covid-19, the 10th edition of the Dhaka Literary Festival will take place from January 5-8, 2023, at the capital’s Bangla Academy.
14 October 2022, 12:58 PM

Rahitul Islam's novels reflect Digital Bangladesh

A portion of the donation has been given to Sanjida Akter of Natore for the treatment of her eyes. Akter was the victim of an acid attack in November last year. 
14 October 2022, 09:00 AM

UPL releases 21st edition of Akbar Ali Khan’s ‘Porarthoporotar Orthoniti’

“Its insights into history and realism make it as enjoyable to the reader as it is deep into the subject”, UPL stated about the 21st edition of Porarthoporotar Orthoniti. 
13 October 2022, 10:43 AM

Thus, we bid goodbye to Gabo and Mercedes

Gabriel Garcia Marquez once famously said, “All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”
12 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Ahaduzzaman Mohammad Ali's 'Nakhshatra Nivey Jai': Poems well worth waiting for

A series of poems also reflect his ecological sensitivity to the machine in the garden and snakes and hyenas imperiling forests and rivers and Dhaka—the city he has lived in for most of his life.
12 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Dhaka Comics' 'Protibastob' is a big step forward in our comic book industry

The 22 stories are written by popular, contemporary writers with big names such as Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, Ahsan Habib, and Mehedi Haque.
12 October 2022, 18:00 PM

‘Sultana’s Dream’ in new Penguin Classics edition and audiobook

The Penguin Classics edition of Sultana’s Dream and Padmarag comes in a paperback, ebook, and as an audiobook narrated by Priya Ayyar, a television and film actor and award-winning audiobook narrator with a BFA and MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
12 October 2022, 11:43 AM

SHOUTxDS Books ‘Slam Poetry Nights’ returns with gusto

Nineteen performers recited poems in Bangla and English, their topics ranging from nostalgia, personal growth and daydreams to mental health, death, and trauma.
6 October 2022, 15:47 PM

Annie Ernaux wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Ernaux has received the award for her “the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.” 
6 October 2022, 11:19 AM

Your favourite fictional blackout companions

“Free light source plus [a] dude I can sit and ruminate with, it’s perfect.” 
6 October 2022, 10:12 AM

Poetry review: Moon’s madness

Protiti’s poems are mostly ‘bare’ conversational musings exploring ‘selfhood, separation, exile, love and longing’.
5 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: A chance encounter, and the rest is history

The memoir provides a good primer to Nusrat's life as a musician and the legacy he left.
5 October 2022, 18:00 PM

On the chaos of teaching English

I discover that teaching is more about reading people.
5 October 2022, 12:18 PM

Fanfiction and the art of retelling stories

Fanfiction is just a devoted fan's mind asking, "What if?" 
4 October 2022, 08:30 AM

"Alap": A lesser-known book published after partition

"Alap" is a book of confession, written by two famous writers and intellectuals of India-Pakistan in the aftermath of 1947 partition.
4 October 2022, 04:21 AM

Durga Puja bhoj for readers

The celebration is incomplete without spending time with loved ones, good food and a pile of books and magazines waiting to be read. 
3 October 2022, 10:48 AM

Rising dollar prices impact book trade

Publishers are fearing that the number of readers as well as buyers will gradually decrease. 
2 October 2022, 11:47 AM