FLASH FICTION / Chand raat at Mohakhali

There’s no other way but to go numb. But then the excruciating job is to make oneself un-numb.

She woke up to milky streetlight spilled on the bed, his exposed neck in its creamy glow. The dark dip between the wings of the collar bones a misshapen waking eye. Keeping watch. She shifted the weight off her right shoulder to turn to the other side. The shoulder was pulsing a heart-beat rhythm of pain. Pain unlike the kind he had brought on a million of his people. A million pairs of hands that would swim oceans, leap mountains, brave war-zones, to switch places with her. For access to that throat. She landed softly on her left. It was time for the other shoulder to share the pain.

“Here one will find on state policy analysis and societal dynamics–exploring grey areas and bringing multidimensional analysis to the refugee crisis”, said Professor Dr Meghna Guhathakurta.

His written language came close to spoken language due to the primitive and original style of Bengali syntax—simple sentence structures.

Studios seem to think female characters need to be glossed with a “zany” and “feisty” persona in order to be relevant. 

Writers and intellectuals are obligated to stir moral indignation at gross injustices and the plight of the masses.

The personal space is the same as the political sphere, the individual on the same strand as the collective. 

Glory is narrated by a vivid chorus of animal voices, while Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is partly told by the malevolent cancer travelling through the body of protagonist Lia.

An engaging discussion on translations unfolded at the event.

Ali Riaz has tried to determine the current political trends as well as trends that may emerge in the future with his keen insight.

As I have grown older, my mind is calmer but it’s a void now, empty of any voice.

When I stood at the Mohakhali bus terminal on that winter noon of 6th February, I did not know what to expect from the journey that lay ahead. I only knew that I was out to explore some unknown history of the Liberation War of Bangladesh, to dig out some unsung heroes who are still outcasts in the history books.

Rabindranath Tagore and Begum Rokeya are two iconic figures in South Asian literature and culture. However, their genius was not confined to writing alone but spread in many directions, including the sphere of education.

When compared to other countries, our local booktok is just not up to the mark. Here are some ways to improve that.

After hosting the Bangladesh launch of the novel Cyber Mage, the critically acclaimed novel by science fiction writer Saad Z Hossain, the third ULAB Literary Salon will acknowledge Bangladesh’s passion for short stories by showcasing three remarkable recent collections:

If this collection proves anything, then it’s that Bangalees will take to poetry like flies take to freshly cut mangoes on a hot summer day.

More than 4,000 wealthy Bangladeshis have invested in Malaysia’s expensive 10-year-residency visa programme. We, the Survivors deserves to be widely read in Bangladesh.

The celebration of 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence has been a welcome opportunity to revisit and put on the spotlight Bangladesh’s developmental experience over the past five decades,

We’ll be honest—instead of all the work we had piled up today, be it taking or attending classes, editing articles, or reporting news, all we at The Daily Star wanted to do was curl up with a good book, wrap ourselves with blankets and sink into some good old, comforting storytelling.

It’d been a while since Nasu was awake, unwilling to get his head out of the comfort of his bedsheet. No job, hence no rush. Besides, inside the sheet it felt warm. Cosy and peaceful. Secured as well. He had no idea how and where the piece of cloth popped up from. Was it somewhere and someone around the night? He couldn’t quite remember, not that he was bound to. It’s not like his life depended on it.