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

Fahmida Azim unpacks her illustration of Uyghur experiences in Chinese internment camps

On August 21, Fahmida Azim, a Bangladeshi born, Seattle-based artist and journalist, was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. The winning team—with Fahmida Azim as artist, Josh Adams on art direction, and Anthony Del Cole as the writer—won the award for “How I escaped a Chinese internment camp”, a visual story on a woman who survived the abduction and internment of Muslims in Chinese camps. The comics reveal insider accounts of China’s anti-Muslim measures, particularly their treatment of the Uyghur community in China.
1 October 2022, 14:00 PM

Books to read this Durga Puja

In The Footsteps Of Rama attempts to retrace the fabled journey of Rama, travelling from Ayodhya to the Dandakaranya forest and Panchavati (near Nashik) and on to Kishkindhya (close to Hampi), Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka. 
1 October 2022, 09:55 AM

How Jules Verne’s ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ got me through typhoid

Jules Verne opened my eyes to the wonderful world of science-fiction, a world where the pinnacle of human imagination meets the beauty of the known. 
30 September 2022, 12:50 PM

Portrait of a family through an intelligence agent’s eyes

Besides the brilliantly unconventional addition of an Intelligence Agent as the main audience, the story’s language, unflinchingly charged with a humorous tone, is enough to keep a reader’s eyes glued to the screen.
29 September 2022, 15:00 PM

‘Praner Prodip Jwaliye’: Prime Minister’s 75th birthday celebration at Bangla Academy

The program was divided in two sections; the first part was dedicated to launching the book titled, Praner Prodip Jwaliye (Bangla Academy, 2022). It is a collection of poetry and rhymes written for the Prime Minister’s 75th birth anniversary and were composed by celebrated personalities.
29 September 2022, 09:26 AM

Shaheen Akhtar’s ‘Beloved Rongomala’ (trans. Shabnam Nadiya) in a new edition from Westland Books

Based on an 18th century legend from Bangladesh’s Noakhali region, Beloved Ronglomala tells the story of one Queen Phuleswari, a child bride, and of Rongomala, a woman of legend.
28 September 2022, 09:39 AM

Shabnam Nadiya, Wasi Ahmed only Bangladeshis among English PEN Presents shortlist

Shabnam Nadiya was selected for The Ice Machine, her translation from the Bangla of Bangladeshi short story writer and novelist Wasi Ahmed’s Borofkol. 
28 September 2022, 07:50 AM

'Bangladesh is divided along cultural fault lines', Professor Mohammad Azam discusses at Gyantaposh Abdur Razzak Foundation

The culture and traditions of the country have been colonised. Thoughts which originate in Kolkata are being accepted in Dhaka’s society without due consideration. 
25 September 2022, 09:37 AM

Books to read about the oppression of women in Iran

To understand the socio-political context and the country’s present state of affairs—one which gave birth to such daring dissenters—it is important to read books and stories which unveil the experience of individuals chained by Iran’s despots. 
24 September 2022, 11:58 AM

‘Nil Chhaya’ reconjures ghosts of Bengal’s Indigo Revolution

‘Nil Chhaya' connects the Indigo Revolt to the oppressions faced by present day garment factory workers in Bangladesh.
24 September 2022, 09:03 AM

Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall trilogy, no more

Hilary Mantel, British author of the Tudor series of books known as the Wolf Hall trilogy, passed away peacefully on Thursday, September 22, Reuters reports. The twice Booker Prize-winning author was 70. 
23 September 2022, 17:01 PM

Connecting generations through stories

Some of my most fervent memories from my chaotically loving childhood is of my Nanuji gathering all of us cousins, big bowl of rice and curry in hand ready to be prepped into balls and stuffed into our ravenous mouths, while reading Sukumar Ray’s 'Hajabarala' and 'Abol Tabol'.
23 September 2022, 09:00 AM

Race and unease in Mohsin Hamid’s ‘The Last White Man’

In The Last White Man, Hamid uses an anodyne, clinical voice to set an atmosphere of unease of a white society panicking within, as a wave of darkness intrudes their skin, turning them impure, perhaps wild.
21 September 2022, 18:00 PM

Of diverse princesses and demigods: Is racebending in fantasy adaptations enough?

Progress is underway, but some studios are still hiding behind the curtain of racebending as if it will solve all of the problems of race innate to cinema itself. Nonetheless, all of it matters—Ariel and Annabeth being portrayed by young Black women—because what we read and watch feeds our imagination.
21 September 2022, 18:00 PM

‘Books must make you see things differently': Sunandini Banerjee of Seagull Books on the art of book cover design

The process of designing a book is a combination of the practical and the creative.
21 September 2022, 18:00 PM

Talent Management in the Post Pandemic World

The book recognises that human capital is the main determinant of organisational performance in modern business and knowledge-based institutional sectors.
20 September 2022, 12:04 PM

'Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Le messager du qawwali' launched at AFD

“I deeply admire Mr Khan for his glorious contribution to the music industry. Despite all the cultural differences, his songs resonate with everyone. I remember being mesmerised after witnessing his magic for the first time back home", shared author Dr Pierre-Alain Baud.
17 September 2022, 07:54 AM

ULAB Literary Salon to discuss freedom of speech today

Writers of both fiction and non-fiction have come under increasing pressure and censorship across South Asia. To discuss these issues, the fifth ULAB Lit Salon brings together a diverse group of experts drawn from policy and its practice, publishing, and media.
17 September 2022, 06:32 AM

A new reader’s guide to Agatha Christie’s world of crime

Published in 1920, this was Christie’s debut novel that introduced readers to her unconventional detective, Poirot.
16 September 2022, 16:09 PM

SHOUTxDS Books presents ‘Slam Poetry Nights’ — Episode 1

The poems ranged from mental health issues to individual freedom of expression and every musing in between.
15 September 2022, 11:58 AM