FLASH FICTION / Chand raat at Mohakhali

Despite Klara and the Sun (Faber, 2021) coming out on my birthday, and soft science fiction being not only a genre I regularly read but write, I found myself with no real connection with the Nobel Prize-winning author’s latest work.

Reading has proven to be a popular habit for all ages during this pandemic. From hardcopies to ebooks to audiobooks, readers now have the opportunity, and time, to discover other genres and enjoy new titles. But if you’re looking for some entertainment that goes beyond reading, these book-related activities might help you stay occupied at home as we brace ourselves for a week of lockdown.

Written by Jubair Shawan and published by Kharimati Prokashani, the poetry collection Mrittu Amader Protibeshi (Death is Our Neighbour) was recently launched through a virtual programme. In addition to the author, the event was attended by artist Razib Datta, who designed the book’s cover art. Among other guests were poet and publisher Monirul Monir, documentary filmmaker and translator Ashfaqul Ashekin, Bengal Stories CEO Alamin Rumi, Surjeet Sarker, and Mahmuda Shwarna. The official unveiling of the book followed a discussion session with online viewers.

Around 30 stalls at the Ekushey Boi Mela were damaged by the strong winds and heavy rainfall last night.

As per government mandated instructions, the Ekushey Boi Mela opened at 12 pm today while the rest of the city observed a lockdown. No visitors were seen at the entrance for the first 45 minutes of opening.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) needs no introduction for us. As a polymath, he was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1913.

And then it rained flowers, then it rained flowers emptying the trees.

The world grows dim and dimmer with feeble eyes. Youth turns into a broken wheelchair; Let’s walk through the desert together, you and I.

Because of the pandemic, this year FOSWAL went for an online conference in collaboration with the Sahitya Akademi. The 4-day long programme titled, “South Asian Online Literary Conference” took place between 15-18 March, 2021.

Selected Poems on Love, Environment & Other Difficulties (Chitra Prokashani, 2020) is a collection of poems by the late Rafiq Azad, one of the most prolific poets of Bangladeshi literature, translated from Bangla by his son Ovinna Azad.

It’s party time in the animal kingdom. A turtle just happens to be in charge of making a birthday cake. He’s small and he’s slow but he has a plan. He started early because he knew speed wasn’t his strength.

One of 2020’s more positive highlights was Daisy Johnson’s stunning sophomore effort, Sisters (Riverhead Books). The novel, a Gothic-domestic drama, starts with siblings September and July in the backseat of a car, on their way to the “Settle House”.

Having graduated from the University of Dhaka’s Faculty of Fine Arts, Sabyasachi Hazra’s work first gained momentum in 2005 and today, is a mainstay during the Ekushey Boi Mela.

The longlist for the prestigious 2021 International Booker Prize was announced on March 30, 2021. Nominees stem largely from Europe, with a few entries from South America, Africa, and Asia rounding out the list.

American children’s book author Beverly Cleary, who responded to a young reader’s plea for realistic characters by bringing rare insight and humor to the lives of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins and the other children who populated her more than 40 books, has died at age 104, publisher HarperCollins said.

During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, collaborators led the Pakistani army to Sohagpur village. In one day, they killed 164 men. Fifty-seven

Solayman rolled off his bed in terror. Twisting his body, he dived under the bed stand and lay flat. His whole body was trembling. The freedom fighters must have surrounded his house!

“Did you see the dead bodies over there?” a little wizened old woman bursting out from nowhere asked, fixing her lackluster eyes on them.

“Muktishongram-e ami jog diyechhilam bishuddho ekjon biplobi hishebe”.

After half a century from where we began, Daily Star Books will spend all of this year—the 50th year of Bangladesh—revisiting and analyzing some of the books that played crucial roles in documenting the Liberation War of 1971 and the birth of this nation. In this sixth installment, we revisit both Khadim Hussain Raja’s A Stranger in My Own Country (Oxford University Press, 2012), in which a retired general gives often problematic views from West Pakistan’s perspective, and Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas’ The Rape of Bangladesh (Vikas Publications, 1971), a pivotal book in changing world opinion on the then-underreported genocide of East Pakistan.