Literature
BOOK REVIEW: POETRY / A deep dive into a poet’s mind
He had lost touch almost completely with his craft, so much so that he wondered if he even had it in him. But even so, for the sake of writing, he wrote. When the pandemic hit, Helal batted off the dust of his desk and sat down to write. Sitting from a foreign land, the ink flowed again.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / In the aftermath of the Palestinian catastrophe—'Minor Detail' by Adania Shibli (trans. Elisabeth Jaquette)
This book is an essential read to understand the extent of the erasure of Palestinian history after the Nakba and life under tyranny in its cities.
South Asia Speaks creative writing mentorship open for applications
The free, year-long fellowship for creative writers from South Asia, is accepting applications until September 30, 2022.
Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 open for submissions
Free to enter and open to any citizen, aged 18 and over, of a Commonwealth country, the prize accepts short story entries written in English and translated to English, as well as stories written in Bangla, Chinese, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil and Turkish languages.
‘I enjoy being alone’: Helal Hafiz
Helal Hafiz has been suffering from glaucoma for a long time, alongside complications with his kidney, diabetes and nerve complications.
FROM PAGES TO PIXELS / ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’—One series to fail them all?
What point is Lord of the Rings making in 2022? That people are racist and wage wars? The original trilogy, from two decades ago, was making that same point.
FROM PAGES TO PIXELS / Why ‘Hawa’ reminded me of Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’
The song “Shada Shada Kala Kala” seems almost like a visual rendition of “the merry minstrelsy” that breaks out in front of the bride as red as a rose.
REVIEW: SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH / No country for honest men in Shahidul Zahir’s “Woodcutter and Crows”
Zahir uses crows as a symbol of magic realism, as found in local folklore, where animals serve as omens of luck both good and bad. The crows seem to bring bad luck to the couple, and wherever they go, the birds follow.
DhakaYeah designs book cover for HarperCollins India
The novel, first published in Bangla as Narach, is set in late 19th century colonial Bengal.
I write a name.—An ode to imagination
Imagination is the capacity to explore that "something else way down."
At the Blums’—A review of 'The Netanyahus' by Joshua Cohen
Cohen’s book confidently deals with the comedy of the Jewish family.
How BookTok motivated me to read again
It has made literary criticism—often regarded highbrow or excessively academic—feel accessible.
Why I’m excited about ‘House of the Dragon’
Fire & Blood is the historical retelling of the reign of the Targaryens as told by the fictional Archmaster Gyldayn, and it is a compressed version of all the things that make A Song of Ice and Fire so fun.
‘Persuasion’, ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Emma.’ What’s missing from these quirky period dramas?
Studios seem to think female characters need to be glossed with a “zany” and “feisty” persona in order to be relevant.
Mundanities, magic realism, Bangladesh—Shahidul Zahir’s novellas
The personal space is the same as the political sphere, the individual on the same strand as the collective.
Unconventional narrators dominate the 2022 Booker Prize longlist
Glory is narrated by a vivid chorus of animal voices, while Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is partly told by the malevolent cancer travelling through the body of protagonist Lia.
How it feels when you can’t finish reading a book
As I have grown older, my mind is calmer but it’s a void now, empty of any voice.
For the Love of Tea
My baby boy snatches my empty tea mug from me and starts licking it. He was given the last few drops of tea from the mug and now he wants more. He puts his hand inside the mug, gets the boiled tea dust into his fist, inserts them in his mouth and starts chewing furiously.
