Published during the 2026 Ekushey Book Fair, Daaknam Bhule Gechi follows a city-bred teenager whose life changes when he moves with his family to a deserted palace in his father’s village.

"While the book is based on academic research, I've tried to write it for the 'interested educated reader'".

Metaphors have never made more sense to me than when these two swapped but intertwined lives personified India and Pakistan, the two newborn countries, whose births were marked by blood, pain and trauma.

Members of each community have reviewed the information that attempts to offer insight into the histories, homes, the clans and tribes that make up each community, the food habits and religious and cultural practices, and the languages, written and oral, they employ. 

“Here one will find on state policy analysis and societal dynamics–exploring grey areas and bringing multidimensional analysis to the refugee crisis”, said Professor Dr Meghna Guhathakurta.

The personal space is the same as the political sphere, the individual on the same strand as the collective. 

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.

Ali Riaz has tried to determine the current political trends as well as trends that may emerge in the future with his keen insight.

As I have grown older, my mind is calmer but it’s a void now, empty of any voice.

Here are some books that, for their various tropes and themes, go hand in hand and allow us to relish these July evenings.

RM, leader of the popular K-pop band BTS, is not only a musician but also an avid reader.

It is a story of discomfort. Of calm, ruthless violence. A drag-your-hands-down-to-uncover-your-eyes gaze at the oblivion we practice not only during Eid holidays, but on any regular day in Bangladesh. 

 Nobody’s Children is a collection of “ten real stories” of homeless children living without any of the support or privilege we take for granted.

Honeyman gives Eleanor a personality beyond her mental illness.

I wanted to share my personal reading order of Alice’s work and a glance into what you can expect from each.

The book in question, according to the blurb on UPL’s website, asks noteworthy questions like, “How do [Millennials] identify themselves in the social and national contexts and how can the nation's framework work for their life strategy?” 

“My story concerns the lost souls of a metropolis”, the author tells The Daily Star, “those magnificent beasts that cannot find their places in a growing, sprawling cityscape.” 

Reversal of fairy tale tropes and themes of mental health and alienation run dominantly across One Minute Past Midnight (Nymphea Publications, 2022), a debut collection of poetry and prose by poet and teacher Arshi Mortuza. 

Chevening scholar, author, and head of business development at The Daily Star, Shuvashish Roy, has published his first work of fiction, Chamakiya O Biggani Bhajaghata (Gyankosh Prokashoni, 2022), released at the Ekushey Boi Mela this year. 

Cousins Faiza Shabnam and Bibha Habiba Haque, students of Class 4 in Dhaka’s Scholastica school, have written a novella about three space travelling teenagers.