Bohemian Peregrinations
Of diamonds and Shazia
Shazia Omar was all cheerful, all fired up, at the launch of Like A Diamond In the Sky last week. Young, bright and articulate, not to say beautiful, she brought in a good dose of humour as she responded to questions on her work, on the plot, theme and characterization in the tale. For a young woman who has just come forth with her first experiment in fiction, the launch ceremony at Red Shift in Gulshan was a quite a resplendent affair. A whole crowd of young people, obviously more at home in matters English and therefore rather modern and secular in outlook, was there. The credit, or a goodly part of it, for the vibrancy of the evening goes to Sal Imam, the suave individual behind Red Shift. It was his introductory remarks that set the session into motion. Imam pointed to the good work which Writers Block, an intellectual enterprise bringing young Bangladeshi writers together, had been doing. Omar's links with it were duly noted, after which the evening was turned over to Dr. Firdous Azim, currently with Brac University. Conversation with Shazia --- that was how the dialogue went between Azim and the writer. Shazia Omar alternately paused, looked into the distance, cracked jokes (some of which were self-deprecating) and explained why she had gone into writing. And, yes, she read out quite a bit from the book. And then the audience was brought in, with its usual clutter of questions. There were no holds barred. Much the same was true of Omar's responses. It went on for quite a good while, and no one dozed off. The evening was rounded off by tea and coffee. Yes, there is promise in Shazia Omar. You could see that as she autographed copies of her book, laughed and made everyone come alive. South Asian storytelling
Speaking of writing, there is The New Anthem: The Subcontinent In Its Own Words. The young Ahmede Hussain, a serious journalist as also a serious literature buff, has done some truly appreciable editing of a work which brings together a diverse array of writers from all over a subcontinent that once was known as undivided India. Hussain explains what it is all about. South Asian fiction, he tends to think (and you can hardly take issue with him here) 'as a strand of post-colonial literature' has turned out to be a whole new and, of course, independent genre. And that is indeed what you get in this collection of short stories. The cheering part of the tale here is the number of Bangladeshi writers of English language fiction coming in. Naturally, after all these years of first the Indians and then the Pakistanis (yes, most of them are part of a diaspora) making it to centre stage in global fiction, it does make one happy knowing that there are Bangladeshis waiting, ready and willing to make an entry into those hallowed halls. Tahmima Anam is there already and now we have Shazia Omar. The good bit about Ahmede Hussain, whose work Blues for Allah should be coming to us soon, is that he gives us a peek into what we could expect from the likes of Mahmud Rahman, Khademul Islam, Abeer Hoque and Sharbari Ahmed. You read their stories here. You will have good cause to reflect on the intensity in them. Ah, but there are all the others as well, from outside the Bangladesh ambience, who make an appearance here. Uzma Aslam Khan, Tabish Khair, Sikeena Karmali, Kamila Shamsie, Qaisra Shahraz, Padma Viswanathan, Amit Chaudhuri, Raman Mundair --- you name them. They are all here. Need a copy? Troop down to The Bookworm, if you are not too worried about getting into a jam on the narrowing roads of this lopsidedly expanding city. Uttaradhikar's promise
Bangla Academy has of late been doing a good job of treating us to satisfying feasts of literature. You need proof? Pick up a copy of the Ashwin 1416 issue (and that is the current one) of the monthly Uttaradhikar. Yes, the focus in the issue is on the environmental. Even so, the journal is pegged to matters literary, which is why it should appeal to you. And do not forget that the writings here are scholarly, a fact that you may have cause to associate with Serajul Islam Choudhury's Notun Diganta quarterly. Uttaradhikar brings you a translation of Orhan Pamuk by Kabir Chowdhury, along with some other gems. Think of Khondokar Ashraf Hossain, Aly Zaker, Khaliquzzaman Ilyas, Jafar Alam, Syed Mohammad Shahed, Jotin Sarkar, Hasnat Abdul Hye and Nasima Anis. Uttaradhikar makes you feel good about culture, about the varied dimensions of it. Star Literature will from here on have a new column dealing with literary events at home and abroad. It may not be there every week, but it will come forth any time new developments are noted in the world of literature. We call it . . . yes, Bohemian Peregrinations.
--- Literary Editor
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