Niaz Zaman

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein and Kazi Nazrul Islam

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein was born in 1880, Kazi Nazrul Islam in 1899. Apart from their difference in gender, there could not have been more differences in the circumstances of their class and upbringing.

Death and Displacement in Syed Waliullah’s Partition Stories

Perhaps the starkest image of the Partition, which created the two independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, is that of the train massacres.

Nazrul, the eternal rebel warrior: 100 years later

One late December night in 1921, Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote what would be his most iconoclastic poem, the poem that would give rise to his soubriquet, “Bidrohi Kabi,” the Rebel Poet. Inspired by a complex of emotions, Nazrul’s ideas were flowing too fast for his pen to keep pace.

The Islamic strain in Kazi Nazrul Islam

Nazrul’s iconic poem uses both Islamic lore as well as Hindu myths to rebel against all that dehumanises and discriminates against human beings.

I have not come to weep

In her memoir, translated into English as An Unknown Woman (2016), Jowshan Ara Rahman describes how the first poem on February 21, 1952

Farewell, My Friend

My first meeting with Mohiuddin Ahmed was in 1956, at a dinner in his brother's house. His brother, Kabir Ahmed, was what in Bangla we call the "bhaira bhai" of SAM Khan, my father's colleague in the civil service, and the friendship of the two families extended to include him.

From a Prayer to a Call to Arms and Action

In December 1921, almost a hundred years ago, Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote what would be his most iconic poem: “Bidrohi.” The poem would transform him from the Soldier Poet to the Rebel Poet.

Navigating Bangla literary: Translations

A lot of translations are being done in Bangladesh, from English into Bangla and Bangla into English; much of the latter by native Bangla speakers.

Two Poems by Kazi Nazrul Islam

I sing the song of equality –

Delight in Disorder: South Asian Festival of Sufism and Buddhism

The last email that I got from the organizers of the South Asian Festival of Sufism and Buddhism (the word Buddhism continued to be

A Feminist Foremother: Critical Essays on Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Mohammad A. Quayum and Md. Mahmudul Hasan, the editors of A Feminist Foremother: Critical Essays on Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain,

Kazi Nazrul Islam and the October Revolution

On 25 October 1917 in Russia – 7 November in India – the Bolsheviks led an armed insurrection against Petrograd. News of the

December 12, 2022
December 12, 2022

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein and Kazi Nazrul Islam

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein was born in 1880, Kazi Nazrul Islam in 1899. Apart from their difference in gender, there could not have been more differences in the circumstances of their class and upbringing.

August 22, 2022
August 22, 2022

Death and Displacement in Syed Waliullah’s Partition Stories

Perhaps the starkest image of the Partition, which created the two independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, is that of the train massacres.

May 30, 2022
May 30, 2022

Nazrul, the eternal rebel warrior: 100 years later

One late December night in 1921, Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote what would be his most iconoclastic poem, the poem that would give rise to his soubriquet, “Bidrohi Kabi,” the Rebel Poet. Inspired by a complex of emotions, Nazrul’s ideas were flowing too fast for his pen to keep pace.

May 23, 2022
May 23, 2022

The Islamic strain in Kazi Nazrul Islam

Nazrul’s iconic poem uses both Islamic lore as well as Hindu myths to rebel against all that dehumanises and discriminates against human beings.

February 21, 2022
February 21, 2022

I have not come to weep

In her memoir, translated into English as An Unknown Woman (2016), Jowshan Ara Rahman describes how the first poem on February 21, 1952

July 3, 2021
July 3, 2021

Farewell, My Friend

My first meeting with Mohiuddin Ahmed was in 1956, at a dinner in his brother's house. His brother, Kabir Ahmed, was what in Bangla we call the "bhaira bhai" of SAM Khan, my father's colleague in the civil service, and the friendship of the two families extended to include him.

May 29, 2021
May 29, 2021

From a Prayer to a Call to Arms and Action

In December 1921, almost a hundred years ago, Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote what would be his most iconic poem: “Bidrohi.” The poem would transform him from the Soldier Poet to the Rebel Poet.

February 21, 2021
February 21, 2021

Navigating Bangla literary: Translations

A lot of translations are being done in Bangladesh, from English into Bangla and Bangla into English; much of the latter by native Bangla speakers.

May 25, 2019
May 25, 2019

Two Poems by Kazi Nazrul Islam

I sing the song of equality –

March 9, 2019
March 9, 2019

Delight in Disorder: South Asian Festival of Sufism and Buddhism

The last email that I got from the organizers of the South Asian Festival of Sufism and Buddhism (the word Buddhism continued to be