Reflections / In the age of AI allegations

13 June 2026, 00:00 AM Reflection
Last year, a friend showed me how a certain portal kept flagging his grad school application essay as written by AI.
Fiction / A doll’s coat
13 June 2026, 00:00 AM ⁠⁠Fiction
Poetry / Phenomenon
13 June 2026, 00:00 AM ⁠⁠Poetry
Event Report / DEH-ULAB hosts Earth Day 2026 talk on climate fiction and water issues
22 April 2026, 18:41 PM
As part of the university’s 2026 Earth Day celebration, the Department of English and Humanities at the University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh (DEH-ULAB) organized a book discussion event on Tuesday, April 21, centered on climate fiction (cli-fi) and how fiction can provide not only parallels and premonitions for our present and future but also bring a wider audience’s attention to perhaps the single most important issue of our time. The event, titled “Lines on a Drying Map: Communities, Conflict, Currents, and Cli-Fi”
NEWS REPORT / “Six books that reverberate with history, humanity, heartbreak, and hope”: 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist announced
2 April 2026, 17:32 PM
The 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, recognizing six outstanding works of fiction from around the world translated into English. The award, known formerly as the Man Booker International Prize, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.

On a Thursday on Kazi Nazrul Avenue

On a Thursday, I went back home, and I took a walk./ On the sidewalk, I saw a splash of maroon on a grey block.
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Are you okay/do you want to talk about it

You’re sitting on the couch/ And you’re tapping your feet at 135 miles per hour/ You’re waiting for something to happen
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Ghosts in Bangla literature and culture

“Bhoot”, the Bangla word for ghost, derives from the Sanskrit word Bhūta, referring to living beings and the past. Later, it also came to mean ‘disembodied spirit.’ Ghost stories carry a special tradition in Bangla literature and the root lies in folklore and rural culture.
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Fail better: A new year’s resolution

But I understand. I am part of a historic pattern. So not everything is personal. I can't help but fall into some of the traps and become prey to some of the vultures.
20 January 2023, 13:26 PM

First look at Rumaan Alam’s ‘Leave The World Behind’ adaptation

Netflix’s adaptation of the novel features Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, and Kevin Bacon in lead roles, with the film being directed by Sam Esmail, creator and director of popular TV show, Mr. Robot.
20 January 2023, 04:00 AM

To be human for the corporation: Olga Ravn’s ‘The Employees’

These characters, human and machine alike, are invited to provide witness statements about their working environment to a commission, which form the entirety of the novel—a design that helps Ravn bring about an atmosphere of tension.
19 January 2023, 12:30 PM

Livraria Lello: the bookstore that inspired Flourish and Blotts

Visiting the Livaria Lello transports any Harry Potter fan to Flourish and Blotts.
19 January 2023, 00:00 AM

‘Eken Babu’ writer Sujan Dasgupta found dead under mysterious circumstances

He was reportedly found lying on the floor of his bedroom, according to the police. 
18 January 2023, 12:32 PM

William Dalrymple plays a role in world’s largest Commonwealth heritage conservation programme

The 216-year-old building of the former British Residency of Hyderabad (also known as Koti Residency or Hyderabad Residency) has been fully restored after a remodelling work of nearly 20 years.
16 January 2023, 11:42 AM

Hanif Kureishi's Twitter diary and why he couldn't make it to Bangladesh

"I realised I had to start again as a person and a writer. I had to become a comic writer, a serious writer, a writer who could integrate the madness and most interesting elements on the same page."
16 January 2023, 06:09 AM

Italian man steals unpublished books by award-winning authors

The more than 1,000 stolen manuscripts included a work by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
15 January 2023, 07:20 AM

‘Border Crossings’ hopes to reconcile diasporic identities

Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin says of first generation immigrants that they—who are already grappling with the duality of their multifaceted identities—were not seen as being Bengali enough by their parents.
14 January 2023, 12:18 PM

The art of moderating literary conversations

Rifat Munim highlighted how a moderator can be a catalyst to an engaging dialogue between the panellists and the audience,
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Foreign literature is a very precious tool for peace

Daily Star Books’ panel on January 8, Day 4 of the Dhaka Lit Fest sought to take the audience to a more existential aspect of what the festival attempts to do. Who chooses which stories deserve to become books? Who chooses whether news of those books will even reach readers? Does book criticism truly help the flow and business of literature within and across national borders?
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Goddesses of Bengal: The living myth of Devi Manasa, Bon Bibi and more

There is absolutely no necessary relationship between the worship of goddesses and the treatment of women.
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

‘Khandito Nazrul’: Why he is and should be relevant

The difficulty of translation is one of the reasons why Nazrul is not discussed as extensively as Tagore in the west.
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Colleen Hoover cancels ‘It Ends With Us’ colouring book on domestic abuse

Readers are questioning how “a coloring book was ever going to ‘tastefully mirror Lilly Bloom’s story’ of violent domestic abuse.”
13 January 2023, 06:32 AM

Books to look forward to in 2023

Here are some of the books that will be hitting the shelves in 2023.
12 January 2023, 13:56 PM

Local publishers, sales, and the 2023 Dhaka Lit Fest

This year a ticketing system was imposed. As such, sales were lower than expected.
12 January 2023, 11:50 AM

Three literary walks: Nilanjana Roy, Shehan Karunatilaka, Daisy Rockwell

With a Books page you're creating a running history of the ideas and the parallel history or the imagination of a country.
12 January 2023, 11:07 AM
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