Stocks break gaining streak

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) broke a four-day rising streak today when its turnover also experienced a drop.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / An island of one’s own

When one begins reading Karen Jennings’ An Island (Picador India, 2021), one might find it hard to believe that an atmospheric novel with such fluid prose initially struggled to find a publisher.

BOOK NEWS / Bookcentric announces September 2021 reading challenge

Dhaka’s Bookcentric library has announced their September 2021 reading challenge in collaboration with Daily Star Books. For this month, Bookcentric will look at books that feature a “utopia” or, conversely, a “dystopia”, given their thematic similarities, from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006) and Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) to Begum Rokeya’s Sultana’s Dream (1905), among others.

BOOK REVIEW: YA FICTION / 'Your Heart, My Sky': A timely YA novel-in-verse about the 1990s Cuban “Special Period”

Early in July of this year, thousands of Cubans took to the streets, pushed over the course of the pandemic to a breaking point by a persistent, two-year-long shortage of medicine and—most importantly—food. Cuban protesters marched and shouted for an end to the Communist regime, which has lasted over six decades.

BOOK REVIEW: GRAPHIC NONFICTION / ‘Wendy, Master of Art’: The life of the artist in graduate school

No one said earning a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) would be easy. After all, art is anything but a linear process of creation. It zigzags through tumultuous periods of unease, delicate uncertainties, and perpetual anxieties, along with quite a mouthful of self-induced negativity.

THE BOOK REPORT / Mohiuddin Ahmed and the industry he pioneered

The loss dealt to Bangladesh and its publishing industry this week will be unparalleled—at 12:59 am on Tuesday, June 22, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Emeritus Publisher and founder of University Press Limited (UPL), passed away after surviving Parkinson’s disease for 20 years.

Stocks break gaining streak

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) broke a four-day rising streak today when its turnover also experienced a drop.

At the Blums’—A review of 'The Netanyahus' by Joshua Cohen

Cohen’s book confidently deals with the comedy of the Jewish family.

Diversity and nuance mark the Bangladeshi experience in Sohana Manzoor's 'Our Many Longings: Contemporary Short Fiction From Bangladesh'

So many words have been used to describe this nation in the last 50 years. Started from a bottomless basket, and along the way we’ve been called resilient, passionate, corrupt, greedy, full of warmth.

South-African author Damon Galgut wins 2021 Booker Prize for his novel, "The Promise"

The South-African novelist and playwright had been previously shortlisted for his books, The Good Doctor (2003) and In A Strange Room (2010) in their respective years, the former of which received the Commonwealth Writers Prize.

How Caroline Kepnes has you rooting for a sociopath

I had heard about You from the moment I stepped into the world of bookstagramming. I’m ashamed to say, though, that I didn’t pick it up before watching the first season of the chilling yet hilarious (in my humble opinion) show, despite my friends raving about it.

Mayurpankhi participates at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021

Mayurpankhi, a children’s book publishing house based in Bangladesh, was invited as a guest this year at the Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair), one of the largest and most important international events in the publishing industry. It serves as a place for thousands of publishing industry professionals to come together and share their ideas, negotiate international book rights, and discuss new trade innovations.

An island of one’s own

When one begins reading Karen Jennings’ An Island (Picador India, 2021), one might find it hard to believe that an atmospheric novel with such fluid prose initially struggled to find a publisher.

‘The Green Knight’ adaptation subverts the tenets of chivalric romance

The mystical riddle that was the film, The Green Knight (2021), was initially just that for me: a riddle. It was one of those films where I felt like my experience of watching it would be more rewarding if I had some idea of the actual story it was based on.

Jalal-Ud-Din Ahmad: A headmaster’s memoir

Pursuit of Excellence in Teaching: A Memoir (University Press Limited, 2021) chronicles the life and legacy of Jalal-Ud-Din Ahmad, a gifted educator who grew up to be the first graduate in his village in Feni, East Pakistan, and whose humble beginnings culminated in his winning the Presidential Award for “Best Headmaster in Pakistan” in 1967.

The allure of the campus novel

In Susannah Clarke’s Piranesi, whose review rests atop this article, the narrator labels time not by calendar dates but by the things that happen to him—the birds who visit his wing of the world, the tides that come swinging or gently.