The shelf / 7 Asian healing fiction recommendations for rainy days

The scramble was almost instantaneous and without mercy. Men in freshly tailored panjabis—stitched for the next morning's prayers—threw elbows for the simple right to go back home.

The novel, as a form, for a long time, has been concerned with the representation of consciousness.

Strings of light stretch across the streets, storefronts glow a little brighter than usual, and the air seems to carry the quiet excitement of Eid drawing near.

The exhibition reimagines the book as a tactile, textile based vessel for memory, currently on view at Alliance Française Dhaka from March 10-18, 2026.

Earlier this year, Brandon Sanderson finalised what has been described as an “unprecedented deal” with Apple TV+ to adapt his Cosmere universe for film and television, specifically his Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive series. For years, Hollywood had shown interest in acquiring the rights to his massive fantasy catalogue. But they could not guarantee him creative control. This is the biggest reason Sanderson had not sold the rights until now. With this Apple TV+ deal, Sanderson gets full creative power and will oversee each project personally.

A few days ago on a dreary, grey Sunday, as I was busy with my weekend chores and preparing for the week ahead, I received a call from my sister.

Existentialism is a philosophical theory and a literary perspective. Its central proposition is that the world has no a priori meaning or purpose.

This forest is a tideline–deep with stillness,  where, 

Rishad Choudhury, a historian and Assistant Professor of History at Oberlin College, has been awarded the 2026 Bernard S. Cohn Prize by the Association for Asian Studies for his book Hajj Across Empires: Pilgrimage and Political Cultures After the Mughals, 1739-1857 (Cambridge, University Press, 2004).

Some names act as a spark—for example, Ila Mitra—along with those of Rosa Luxemburg, Pritilata Wadedder, and Matangini Hazra—who is much better known and acclaimed as ‘Nachole-er Rani-ma’ (Queen Mother of Nachole).

I read poems often, and recently I came across a book titled Fenaphul. The cover—painted with soft blue and white watercolour splotches—immediately caught my attention. I decided to read it when I learned that it had received the Oitijjhya-Shantanu Kaiser Literary Award 2025 and was written by a young poet.

In classical studies of sensory experiences, philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty suggest that bodily sensations constitute our lived reality.

I sit on a chair. Sometimes I wish I were sitting on my old chair of humble plastic, but right now my chair is a plush armchair, with armrests no less, swaying and swooning on its cabriole legs of sturdy s-curve perfection.

I miss those spring days when the sun lay on my skin

Graphic novels or comics are a unique medium where art and literary prowess converge through both prose and imagery and bring them to life, thus giving the space for authors and artists to illustrate their stories. Sometimes these stories directly critique patriarchy, and feature feminist themes; sometimes they simply offer a mirror and the chance to reflect on women’s everyday struggles.

I’ve always been fascinated by what stories can tell us about the inner lives (what men like to call the private sphere) of women throughout history.

Through essays on sanctions, the US intervention, protest movements, and media framing, he argues that misrepresentation and political calculation have sustained a “long war” beyond the battlefield

The house in Bogura did not shout its presence. It stood quietly, as more than shelter, more than walls and roof.

Benjamin Wood’s latest novel Seascraper (Scribner, 2025), longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2025, is a tale of a young shrimp fisher Tom Flett who has an extraordinary expertise about sea and beaches.

When your bright beaming dark eyes, matched mine, locked like a stubborn vine,