FLASH FICTION / Chand raat at Mohakhali

Vivid imagery and symbolism of deep human emotion are found throughout Plath’s novel, as the readers are allowed a look into the mind of a 19-year-old girl who is trapped in the kind of society where women are perceived only as objects of desire and vessels for procreation. 

Everyone, except Pippa, believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andie Bell, five years ago. Before he could be charged, Salil was found in the woods, apparently having committed suicide.

It is crucial for neighbouring countries and global citizens to think about what the issues prevailing in Afghanistan represent and how the crisis there can be dealt with effectively.

The Department of English and Humanities, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) has organised a two-day International Virtual Colloquium on October 30 and 31 entitled “From ‘Kabuliwala’ to the Fall of Kabul: Afghanistan in Popular Imagination”.

On that October dawn The dew that descended

While students of literature are most often advised not to ponder over the personal lives of authors, it is almost impossible to do that in the case of Sylvia Plath.

The SAARC Literary Festival dates back to 1987, a year after the formation of SAARC. Ajeet Caur, a writer and recipient of the Padma Shri Award, first organized the festival on behalf of the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL).

Amitav Ghosh traces back to the lineage of nutmegs originating in the Banda Islands to argue how colonisation deeply influences the geopolitics even in the contemporary world, a violent phenomenon that has led to natural disasters linked to climate change.

The version of Bangladesh we received in Babu Bangladesh (2019) was astonishing.

Storytelling is a space in which, as writers and readers, we experience the ways of how we know the world and interact with it.

Tanveer Anoy’s second novel, Duradhay (Anandam, 2021), felt like a punch to my stomach; a wake up call, to be more precise.

You walk into a room and come across stacks and stacks of books neatly arranged on shelves lining the walls, a couple of pristine white bedsheets, an intricate marble backdrop, and the smell of half a dozen candles blending together as your eyes are drawn to the centre of attention: glimmering, gold-foiled book covers. This is the commonly seen, romanticised setup for a book blogger’s photoshoot. Unfortunately, the real, behind-the-scenes process of blogging in Bangladesh can be quite different. 

Like a reptile emerging from the dust of centuries, Kolkata’s Ballygunge Down tram is snaking its way towards Rashbihari Avenue. Ghon! ghon! chimes its bell, ringing out in the last of the fading afternoon sun. Sitting at the counter of Jolkhabar stand,

Participants reviewed Bangla translations of two significant works of Korean literature—Korear Kobita (Korean Poetry) translated by Chhanda Mahbub, and Korear Golpo (Short Stories of Korea), edited by Soroishwarja Muhommod. Both translations were published by Ujan Prakashan and assisted by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, who also helped organise the contest. 

Suhail Aziz’s book, Breakthrough (Book Guild, 2020), is a memoir of a British Bengali and his intertwined personal story of love and prejudice. Aziz is best known within the UK Bengali community for his involvement with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).

Zahid sat in a tiny room cramped with men. A ventilator was the only source for its occupants to get air from the outer world. The last time he had talked to his father had been at the Istanbul Airport. He still had his cellphone from Bangladesh. It was the only physical connection he had with his country.

Nobody tells me to search for you as if there’s a timeframe for undertaking such quests! My voice sounds like yours, and often, looking at my arms, I get puzzled,

It is so cheap like it is everywhere- on the highways, under the bridges, disappeared

Abdulrazak Gurnah, this year’s Nobel laureate in literature, seems to come as an admirable choice compared to the Nobel Prize’s controversial recent history.

The epic antedates even the depiction of the famous Trojan war; it is, in effect, the oldest epic found till date.