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

An invaluable resource on char dwellers of deltaic Bangladesh

In the contemporary discourse on Bangladesh, its cultural legacies have overtaken its identity as a land of six seasons or as a riverine country.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Isabel Allende’s ‘Violeta’: A century of grief and introspection

The lifespan of a century gave Violeta Del Valle innumerable memories, and she tells her story in Isabel Allende’s new novel, Violeta (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022). Writing to one named Camilo—someone she loves more than all others—Violeta recounts the saga of a hundred years.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Notes of a first-time English teacher

As the white hot sun pierced through the soufflé clouds on an afternoon a lifetime ago, my aunt and I leaned back a little too precariously on our rattan armchairs while talking about the allure of academe.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Shagufta Sharmeen Tania shortlisted for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2022

“My story concerns the lost souls of a metropolis”, the author tells The Daily Star, “those magnificent beasts that cannot find their places in a growing, sprawling cityscape.” 
25 April 2022, 10:47 AM

Aziz Super Market: A place that changed drastically

Once upon a time, Aziz Super Market use to be a hub for cultural and literature activities. A culture of “thought and creation” developed centring around the book stores. Be it the famous hangout of Ahmed Sofa or the office or balcony of LittleMag - there was always people hanging out with a cup of tea. Aziz Super Market was a place where people would not only discuss books or cinema but also make them; for instance, ideas of short films or songs, among others, originated there.
23 April 2022, 16:01 PM

The fault in our books: Why are Bangla books poorly edited?

What does our editorial process lack? Why can’t we hire good proofreaders? The answer lies in the economics of it. 
23 April 2022, 11:25 AM

Ramadan Maghfirat: How I channelled my rage into inspiration for Sehri Tales

I channelled my hurt, anger and frustration into poetry and flash fiction that had nothing to do with my agitator and her cronies.
21 April 2022, 10:20 AM

‘IS CHINA ENCIRCLING INDIA?’: A question worth asking

Aminul Karim rightly believes that China's race for dominance will continue unabated. He also believes that in spite of that, a kind of Asian peace "should prevail". No one will contest this idea, but whether it will prevail depends to a large extent on the behaviour of the protagonists.
20 April 2022, 18:00 PM

WORLD BOOK DAY: Books about books

For World Book Day on April 23, we bring together a list of books about books as a means to glimpse at and tap into the vast knowledge, power, and pleasure that is to be found in these complex objects. Are they, indeed, just objects? Or historical artefacts? Or weapons?
20 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Amitava Kumar's 'A Time Outside This Time': An elegant meditation on the lies we tell

At the start of Amitava Kumar’s latest novel, A Time Outside This Time (Aleph Book Company, 2021), the main character Satya, an Indian-born US-based journalist, is at a swanky artists’ retreat in Italy where he is reading 1984
20 April 2022, 18:00 PM

The longstanding fascination with Regency romance

How is it that the privileged lives of the British upper classes, in a period of time which lasted arguably less than a decade, have managed to leave behind such an impressive legacy in English literature?
18 April 2022, 13:54 PM

Amartya Sen’s ‘Home in the World’: The life of an intellectual

“When I was born, Rabindranath persuaded my mother that it was boring to stick to well-used names and he proposed a new name for me…Amartya”, writes the author and economist.
13 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Christy Lefteri's 'Songbirds': The invisible life of migrant domestic workers

“Absence is the highest form of presence.” This Joycean quote could not be truer for Nisha.
13 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Songs of our soil: In praise of Mymensingh’s Bangla folk ballads

Folk-ballads are living archives that represent the imagination, values, ideas, and aesthetics of the people to whom they belong. Folk-ballads are living archives that represent the imagination, values, ideas, and aesthetics of the people to whom they belong.
13 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Arshi Mortuza explores mental health and identity crises in ‘One Minute Past Midnight’

Reversal of fairy tale tropes and themes of mental health and alienation run dominantly across One Minute Past Midnight (Nymphea Publications, 2022), a debut collection of poetry and prose by poet and teacher Arshi Mortuza. 
8 April 2022, 09:59 AM

Carole Angier on writing the biography of WG Sebald

In Speak, Silence: In Search of W.G. Sebald (Bloomsbury, 2021), you write that the author’s British publisher, Christopher MacLehose, was in a dilemma to decide on Sebald’s genre of writing. After writing about his novel and his life for so long, how would you define Sebald’s genre?
6 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Lee Lai's 'Stone Fruit': Jokes, rhymes, and the depths of relationships

One of the most searing scenes in Lee Lai’s magnificent graphic novel, Stone Fruit (Fantagraphics, 2021) is when a young child, Nessie,
6 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Why it’s okay to forget the books you read

What makes them my favourites, if I can’t remember the names of the engrossing characters or the details of the intricate plots in some of my “favourite” books?
6 April 2022, 18:00 PM

Sri Lankan lives in turmoil: A riotous rendition of “Funny Boy”

Selvadurai’s book, set against the backdrop of escalating political tension in Sri Lanka prior to the 1983 riots, portrays the effect of the Tamil-Sinhalese clash on the personal lives of his characters, before giving a glimpse of the riots in the very last chapter.
5 April 2022, 08:50 AM

Revisiting ‘The Midnight Library’ and the beauty of a flawed life

Each hardcover spine contains the story of how Nora’s life would have turned out if she had chosen differently—if she had picked a different career path, moved to a different country or married a different person.
2 April 2022, 12:38 PM