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?
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
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.
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.

Revisiting German and Bengali folklore in ‘Myth Bridge’

Here, Rapunzel, Hercules, Bon Bibi, and King Solomon might be having a gala time over tea, or fighting their own battles.
21 January 2023, 12:06 PM

On a Thursday on Kazi Nazrul Avenue

On a Thursday, I went back home, and I took a walk./ On the sidewalk, I saw a splash of maroon on a grey block.
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Are you okay/do you want to talk about it

You’re sitting on the couch/ And you’re tapping your feet at 135 miles per hour/ You’re waiting for something to happen
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Ghosts in Bangla literature and culture

“Bhoot”, the Bangla word for ghost, derives from the Sanskrit word Bhūta, referring to living beings and the past. Later, it also came to mean ‘disembodied spirit.’ Ghost stories carry a special tradition in Bangla literature and the root lies in folklore and rural culture.
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Fail better: A new year’s resolution

But I understand. I am part of a historic pattern. So not everything is personal. I can't help but fall into some of the traps and become prey to some of the vultures.
20 January 2023, 13:26 PM

First look at Rumaan Alam’s ‘Leave The World Behind’ adaptation

Netflix’s adaptation of the novel features Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, and Kevin Bacon in lead roles, with the film being directed by Sam Esmail, creator and director of popular TV show, Mr. Robot.
20 January 2023, 04:00 AM

To be human for the corporation: Olga Ravn’s ‘The Employees’

These characters, human and machine alike, are invited to provide witness statements about their working environment to a commission, which form the entirety of the novel—a design that helps Ravn bring about an atmosphere of tension.
19 January 2023, 12:30 PM

Livraria Lello: the bookstore that inspired Flourish and Blotts

Visiting the Livaria Lello transports any Harry Potter fan to Flourish and Blotts.
19 January 2023, 00:00 AM

‘Eken Babu’ writer Sujan Dasgupta found dead under mysterious circumstances

He was reportedly found lying on the floor of his bedroom, according to the police. 
18 January 2023, 12:32 PM

William Dalrymple plays a role in world’s largest Commonwealth heritage conservation programme

The 216-year-old building of the former British Residency of Hyderabad (also known as Koti Residency or Hyderabad Residency) has been fully restored after a remodelling work of nearly 20 years.
16 January 2023, 11:42 AM

Hanif Kureishi's Twitter diary and why he couldn't make it to Bangladesh

"I realised I had to start again as a person and a writer. I had to become a comic writer, a serious writer, a writer who could integrate the madness and most interesting elements on the same page."
16 January 2023, 06:09 AM

Italian man steals unpublished books by award-winning authors

The more than 1,000 stolen manuscripts included a work by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
15 January 2023, 07:20 AM

‘Border Crossings’ hopes to reconcile diasporic identities

Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin says of first generation immigrants that they—who are already grappling with the duality of their multifaceted identities—were not seen as being Bengali enough by their parents.
14 January 2023, 12:18 PM

The art of moderating literary conversations

Rifat Munim highlighted how a moderator can be a catalyst to an engaging dialogue between the panellists and the audience,
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Foreign literature is a very precious tool for peace

Daily Star Books’ panel on January 8, Day 4 of the Dhaka Lit Fest sought to take the audience to a more existential aspect of what the festival attempts to do. Who chooses which stories deserve to become books? Who chooses whether news of those books will even reach readers? Does book criticism truly help the flow and business of literature within and across national borders?
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Goddesses of Bengal: The living myth of Devi Manasa, Bon Bibi and more

There is absolutely no necessary relationship between the worship of goddesses and the treatment of women.
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

‘Khandito Nazrul’: Why he is and should be relevant

The difficulty of translation is one of the reasons why Nazrul is not discussed as extensively as Tagore in the west.
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM

Colleen Hoover cancels ‘It Ends With Us’ colouring book on domestic abuse

Readers are questioning how “a coloring book was ever going to ‘tastefully mirror Lilly Bloom’s story’ of violent domestic abuse.”
13 January 2023, 06:32 AM

Books to look forward to in 2023

Here are some of the books that will be hitting the shelves in 2023.
12 January 2023, 13:56 PM

Local publishers, sales, and the 2023 Dhaka Lit Fest

This year a ticketing system was imposed. As such, sales were lower than expected.
12 January 2023, 11:50 AM
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