Event Report / “We do not live outside history”: Dr. Azfar Hussain on humanism, fascism, and the July Uprising
26 July 2026, 16:24 PM
News
“It is one of those questions that politely pretends to be a title, but secretly aspires to be a life’s work,” began Dr. Azfar Hussain on an overcast evening on the July 23, 2026, addressing a packed forum hall at the University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh (ULAB), alluding to the title of his public lecture: What Does It Mean to Be Human in the Age of 'Posthumanism' and Global Fascism?
Essay / The writing’s boring, so he’s a third-class writer
25 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Essay
Poetry / You ask me
25 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Poetry
Book Review: Fiction / The queen who would not stay dead
23 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Books & Literature
Book Review: Nonfiction / A historian’s vision vis-a-vis Hindutva mythmaking
23 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Books & Literature
Fiction / Lira’s glasses
19 July 2026, 19:00 PM
Fiction
Event Report / Special Discussion Marks Abul Hasnat’s Birth Anniversary: ‘Nabiner Shahittya: Shwapna O Shwapnabhongo’
19 July 2026, 17:49 PM
News
Tribute / The teacher beyond the classroom
18 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Tribute
Flash Fiction / The knife seller
18 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Books & Literature
Interview / In conversation with Sonia Bahl: Author of ‘Eighteen Inches Apart’
What becomes increasingly evident across Bahl’s three novels is her sustained fascination with the emotional significance of almosts and maybes.
News Report / Kazuo Ishiguro set to return with new novel in 2027
20 June 2026, 15:18 PM
News Report / NSU DEML offers certificate course in creative writing for the second time
16 June 2026, 22:03 PM
Event Report / “Our Story”: Where parents and children made memories by hand
15 July 2026, 21:38 PM
News Report / Jamir Nazir wins 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize following AI review
3 July 2026, 20:09 PM
Event Report / Letters across a lifetime: The 20th staging of Love Letters
21 June 2026, 17:40 PM
Event Report / Dhaka Zine Mela 2026: A celebration of creativity and community
11 June 2026, 17:39 PM
Interview / Kishwar Chowdhury on Bangali culture and culinary storytelling
11 June 2026, 00:00 AM
Interview / Diaspora, national identity and reality TV with Pajtim Statovci
9 June 2026, 21:48 PM
Not every story ends with rejoicing. Not all questions are answered within one lifetime. Not everyone will get to fulfil their dreams. All my protagonists are incomplete until the end. And the end itself offers no catharsis. It’s the same darkness that was present when the reader met them the first time. I write about the world and the people within it the way I have experienced the world.
News Report / Marjane Satrapi, voice of exile and resistance, dies at 56
4 June 2026, 17:58 PM
Event Report / Poetry collection Adivasi Premikar Mukh: The Portrait of an Adivasi Beloved launched at Bangla Academy
19 May 2026, 14:26 PM
The bilingual poetry collection Adivasi Premikar Mukh: The Portrait of an Adivasi Beloved, (Oitijjhya, 2026) by journalist, poet, and fiction writer Ehasan Mahamud was launched on Monday, May 18, at the Kabi Shamsur Rahman Seminar Room of Bangla Academy, Dhaka. The event was organised by Oitijjhya Publications and moderated by Mostafa Mushfiq.
Event Report / Two-day literary memorial and discussion event held at Bengal Shilpalay
17 May 2026, 17:16 PM
The shelf / 7 Asian healing fiction recommendations for rainy days
18 June 2026, 17:04 PM
The Shelf
You know when the sky trades its brightness for a low, silver hue, and you wrap your fingers tightly around your tea, seeking that small, steady pulse of warmth. This is the essence of healing fiction. Often rooted in the Japanese concept of iyashikei, these stories focus on the quiet spirit through small, everyday moments. You may have already heard of Days at the Morisaki Bookshop or We’ll Prescribe You a Cat. While those popular favourites have opened a door for many, there are a few other tales worth the read.
Reflections / In the age of AI allegations
13 June 2026, 00:00 AM
Creative Nonfiction / Our Eids and Puja in Azimpur
30 May 2026, 00:00 AM
Essay / Ghosts in the secretariat: Mapping the Bangladeshi Gothic
7 May 2026, 00:00 AM
Book Review: Fiction / Agency, identity, and the rewriting of Medusa
1 May 2026, 00:00 AM
Fiction / Body Selim
18 April 2026, 00:00 AM
News Report / Two Bangladeshi writers make 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist
14 April 2026, 16:54 PM
The Sehri Tales prompt is a Rorschach test for participants
If there is one thing that worries me a little, it is that the strong trend for themes of sexual violence that began to appear during lockdown, continues to be favoured by a significant number of our domestic writers.
2 May 2022, 10:11 AM
A Season of Hope and Despair: Reminiscing My Dhaka University Days
I am one of the privileged few to have experienced Dhaka University—the nation’s citadel of higher education le plus excellent—from both sides of the spectrum, first as a student and then as an academic.
29 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Lies Woven in Olive Wreaths
Men wearing wreaths uphold their sacred emblem -
They extend an olive branch.
Hold round-table talks on their next daring conquest.
Fill banks with our blood. Build forts of crisp notes.
Offer helpless smiles to victims of wars that they sell.
They empty the bowels of our earth for oil,
tie a string from end to end
29 April 2022, 18:00 PM
She-wolf
The forest was still in the early hours of a cold autumn morning. The silence was broken only by the breeze through the trees and the restless trickling of a stream running through the middle of a clearing.
29 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Book charities to donate to this Eid
The pandemic has disrupted the businesses of struggling booksellers, many of whom are still reeling from their losses. There are organisations that are helping booksellers, book readers, and both.
28 April 2022, 07:03 AM
Shagufta Sharmeen Tania, British-Bangladeshi writer, shortlisted in Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2022
Read the article on The Daily Star website and on Daily Star Books’ Facebook and Instagram pages.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM
An invaluable resource on char dwellers of deltaic Bangladesh
In the contemporary discourse on Bangladesh, its cultural legacies have overtaken its identity as a land of six seasons or as a riverine country.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Isabel Allende’s ‘Violeta’: A century of grief and introspection
The lifespan of a century gave Violeta Del Valle innumerable memories, and she tells her story in Isabel Allende’s new novel, Violeta (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022). Writing to one named Camilo—someone she loves more than all others—Violeta recounts the saga of a hundred years.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Notes of a first-time English teacher
As the white hot sun pierced through the soufflé clouds on an afternoon a lifetime ago, my aunt and I leaned back a little too precariously on our rattan armchairs while talking about the allure of academe.
27 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Shagufta Sharmeen Tania shortlisted for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2022
“My story concerns the lost souls of a metropolis”, the author tells The Daily Star, “those magnificent beasts that cannot find their places in a growing, sprawling cityscape.”
25 April 2022, 10:47 AM
Aziz Super Market: A place that changed drastically
Once upon a time, Aziz Super Market use to be a hub for cultural and literature activities. A culture of “thought and creation” developed centring around the book stores. Be it the famous hangout of Ahmed Sofa or the office or balcony of LittleMag - there was always people hanging out with a cup of tea. Aziz Super Market was a place where people would not only discuss books or cinema but also make them; for instance, ideas of short films or songs, among others, originated there.
23 April 2022, 16:01 PM
The fault in our books: Why are Bangla books poorly edited?
What does our editorial process lack? Why can’t we hire good proofreaders? The answer lies in the economics of it.
23 April 2022, 11:25 AM
5 ways to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday, on World Book Day
Celebrate the literary genius who inspires literature and media to this day.
23 April 2022, 07:24 AM
Humayun Kabir, Men and Rivers, and Faridpur
Writer, statesman and educationalist Humayun Kabir (1906-69) was born in Komarpur near Faridpur town. The childhood of this cosmopolitan intellectual was spent in a rural culture.
22 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Parallel Realities, Peripheral Existences: Saikat Majumdar’s The Middle Finger
The intriguing image of a woman’s eye peering through a hole cut into the glossy book jacket suggests that there is more to Saikat Majumdar’s The Middle Finger than meets the eye.
22 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Ramadan Maghfirat: How I channelled my rage into inspiration for Sehri Tales
I channelled my hurt, anger and frustration into poetry and flash fiction that had nothing to do with my agitator and her cronies.
21 April 2022, 10:20 AM
‘IS CHINA ENCIRCLING INDIA?’: A question worth asking
Aminul Karim rightly believes that China's race for dominance will continue unabated. He also believes that in spite of that, a kind of Asian peace "should prevail". No one will contest this idea, but whether it will prevail depends to a large extent on the behaviour of the protagonists.
20 April 2022, 18:00 PM
WORLD BOOK DAY: Books about books
For World Book Day on April 23, we bring together a list of books about books as a means to glimpse at and tap into the vast knowledge, power, and pleasure that is to be found in these complex objects. Are they, indeed, just objects? Or historical artefacts? Or weapons?
20 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Amitava Kumar's 'A Time Outside This Time': An elegant meditation on the lies we tell
At the start of Amitava Kumar’s latest novel, A Time Outside This Time (Aleph Book Company, 2021), the main character Satya, an Indian-born US-based journalist, is at a swanky artists’ retreat in Italy where he is reading 1984
20 April 2022, 18:00 PM
The longstanding fascination with Regency romance
How is it that the privileged lives of the British upper classes, in a period of time which lasted arguably less than a decade, have managed to leave behind such an impressive legacy in English literature?
18 April 2022, 13:54 PM
Show in Mobile App
Off
Show Sub Category
Off
Show in Homescreen
Off