Essay / A beginner’s guide to ‘Khwabnama’

31 July 2026, 00:00 AM Books & Literature
In the year 1996, just a year before his untimely death, Aktaruzzaman Elias had published his magnum opus, Khwabnama.

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
Fiction / Lira’s glasses
19 July 2026, 19:00 PM ⁠⁠Fiction
Interview / Kishwar Chowdhury on Bangali culture and culinary storytelling
11 June 2026, 00:00 AM
When the MasterChef favourite Kishwar Chowdhury and writer Samai Haider caught up to talk about Chowdhury’s debut cookbook Smoke, Rice, Water (Hardie Grant Books, 2026), the conversation quickly morphed into something much larger than publishing deadlines and recipe testing.
News Report / Marjane Satrapi, voice of exile and resistance, dies at 56
4 June 2026, 17:58 PM
Satrapi offered a deeply personal account of life under Iran’s Islamic regime while creating a story that resonated with readers worldwide

A day of festivities to celebrate 19 years of Baatighar

Baatighar has organised an evening of music and discussion at its Dhaka outlet on June 18, 2023, from 6 PM onwards.
18 June 2023, 10:44 AM

Heathen 

Spirit breaks at home along with love mingled with innocence.
16 June 2023, 18:00 PM

Will-o’-the-Wisp

The sky to the west and overhead is mired in darkness; but to the east, light is gleaming out like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.
16 June 2023, 18:00 PM

Begum Rokeya and Begum Sufia An enduring “mother-daughter” bond

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and Begum Sufia Kamal (1911-1999), two icons in Bangla literature and culture, were not kins but kindred spirits.
16 June 2023, 18:00 PM

All she ever wanted

Elen would tell you how her hatred for her sister was so intense that she didn't know who she was without it.
16 June 2023, 14:53 PM

Across the Spider-Verse: Faithfulness to the comics

Bendis intentionally put a stark difference between Peter and Miles, so that comic book fans would not feel that their favourite web-swinger was being replaced by just another goody-two-shoes, just with a racial make-up switch.
16 June 2023, 12:59 PM

In Extreme Need of Guidance

On summer days when the sunlight falls through the trees it scatters into a play of light and shadows on the ground. My memories of Fareed are like that.
15 June 2023, 13:30 PM

Can we process trauma through writing?

Iffat Nawaz, together with The Daily Star’s Books & Literary Editor, Sarah Anjum Bari, will discuss the act and impact of processing traumatic memories through writing. 
15 June 2023, 10:55 AM

Lovers, liars and lurkers in the library

Hannah's protagonist Freddie is attempting to make progress on her novel by working at the Boston Public Library, when she—along with three of the people she is sharing a table with—are transfixed by the sound of a woman screaming somewhere in the Library.
14 June 2023, 12:55 PM

Yuval Noah Harari’s take on the history of humanity

About the history of the ancient people, Harari skilfully depicts the men and the women, nature, and the environment of prehistoric times, their patterns, and the characteristics of the rough life in the wild-mountainous region.
12 June 2023, 13:00 PM

Himal Fiction Fest to showcase the next era of South Asian storytelling

Over the two-week period, six original short stories by emerging South Asian writers will be published on Himal Southasia’s website
11 June 2023, 13:00 PM

The once and future bedes & ‘Gypsies?

Szilvia Reif, a student of mine from the (indicatively named) Gandhi School in Pècs, Hungary, wrote a poem that tells what it feels like to be a ‘Gypsy (properly Roma).
9 June 2023, 18:00 PM

Meursault rediscovered

Mother sold him and he never knew a father; Born adult, as though he never had a childhood.
9 June 2023, 18:00 PM

Myth of the witch

I killed my lover. I killed the love of my life and watched the life drain out of her eyes. Eyes that were golden brown turned pitch black; as if her soul left the body taking away all the colours of life.
9 June 2023, 18:00 PM

Exploring nostalgia over coffee

Although the story doesn’t talk about how this particular cafe became a time-travelling spot to begin with, reading through to the last page made me feel that the café was always there-since the beginning of time.
9 June 2023, 13:00 PM

Never have I ever…seen such diverse casting in western media

It makes me wonder if the entire show gets too swept up with its political correctness.
9 June 2023, 08:55 AM

A personal quest to explore the core essence of ‘Bengaliness’

We Bengalis are very much part of a collectivist society, where ‘private’ matters are communal, and everyone can have some opinions about ‘other’s business. We describe that as our own unique way of looking after each other and maintaining ‘social well beings’.
8 June 2023, 07:24 AM

Professing criticism: On Naeem Mohaiemen's new book of essays

Although the book is written in English, he has plenty of doubt to dispense about the language, its usefulness, acceptance, and communicability when it comes to writing and creating art in Bangladesh.
8 June 2023, 06:59 AM

Shantona Shantuma: A pioneering manga artist duo in Bangladesh

The ambition was to popularise Bangladeshi manga. At first the initiative was voluntary but later they succeeded to commercialise the publication.
7 June 2023, 13:00 PM

UPL Summer Book Fair 2023 underway

Some of UPL’s best selling titles include 'Political Parties in India' (2022) by Abdul Razzaq and a Bangla translation of Yuval Noah Harari’s 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' (2014).
4 June 2023, 15:00 PM
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