Star Literature
Of ‘BONOBIBI’ and music as a form of storytelling
The verses remind us that a withering, war-torn Earth can still birth new life and hopes of freedom.
24 hours, granted
I spent the whole day running on the roads near Ramna park. Riding a bicycle alone through the narrow alleys of Mohammadpur without the fear of anyone jumping out at me from the corners.
Where are indigenous women’s stories?
Indigenous women are read even less. There are multiple root causes–lack of editorial support for indigenous authors writing in their mother tongues, the predominance of oral traditions, gender inequality and bias.
Advice for Pliny the Elder, Big Daddy of Mansplainers
Great Man, now that you are dead, allow me to squeeze your hand. The sage bushes in Umbria are heavy with bees, so I’m killing them with hypnosis.
Children's books everyone should read
Children’s books might end up giving us more as adults than they did to us as children.
Kalai rutis, tamarind trees, and childhood adventures
I hurt my left knee quite seriously but was too afraid of my father to tell anyone about it. I thought the fault was mine, as though my injury was some kind of crime. So for several days I wore long dresses and kept my knee hidden from everyone even as the wound became infected and the bone began to show.
Márquez told me people can fly sometimes
In celebration of Gabriel Garcia Márquez, born on this day, March 6, 1927.
BookTok is propagating pseudo-feminism
There lies a problem in the type of books that are being popularised by BookTok.
FICTION / The long dinner table
A daughter reflects on time and Bengali culture as she revels in the excitement of cooking her parents a meal.
POETRY / The native lores know
Language trickles down the routes that blood took through Time. They say it’s a linear path, and yet I, a reluctant servant to the wiles of Time, find myself laid out in loops and slopes.
King of current affairs
You do not read Plath,/ Nor Milton./ Or Wordsworth./ Or Shakespeare. What do you read?/ Newspapers, current affairs,/ How to be great when you're good.
The long dinner table
A daughter reflects on time and Bengali culture as she revels in the excitement of cooking her parents a meal.
Ismat Chughtai and her stories of the unsayable
Chughtai spoke about taboo topics such as homosexuality, abortion, female desire, and their rights and independence.
The native lores know
Language trickles down the routes that blood took through Time. They say it’s a linear path, and yet I, a reluctant servant to the wiles of Time, find myself laid out in loops and slopes.
Remembering the Bangla language movement through literature
Hasan Hafizur Rahman's 'Ekushey February' created huge turmoil and faced police persecution.
‘The language movement did not reject the importance of dialects’: Syed Manzoorul Islam
Professor Islam sheds light on English writing in Bangladesh, its future, and the influence of the language movement on the Bangladeshi psyche.
Jhalmuri for the hollowed in-between
“Extra ghugni, no chilis,” he confirmed, his cyber-enhanced eyes ever judging.
My father’s temper, moral conduct and my extended family
'In Extreme Need of Guidance', the book being serialised here, captures the first sixteen years of Sultana Nahar's life. "Mercolized Wax" is the second chapter in the book.
Mothers of the earth
Come, if you may, with swords or guns. Remember, I won’t cry and run; I will rise from the depths of the land.
La Marionette
She wakes up suddenly from her unnatural beeline posture, slowly and ever so gently, like a chained demon would after just hours of calculated slumber. I never look.