Fanny Brawne: John Keats’ Bright Star

The ring in the picture is the one that John Keats gave to his beloved Fanny Brawne as engagement ring in the Autumn of 1891. The stone is a garnet – set in gold. An inexpensive piece of jewellery, it reflects the financial condition of a poor poet struggling to make ends meet.
28 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Books to read if you enjoyed ‘House of the Dragon’

Like A Song of Ice and Fire, The Priory of the Orange Tree is told from the perspective of many different characters in various parts of the world, with different loyalties, religions, ranks, and abilities.
27 October 2022, 11:00 AM

Why don’t Bangladeshi books reach international award shelves?

A serious lack of outlet demotivates the publishing of anglophone literature in our literary scene. But the situation isn't completely bleak.
26 October 2022, 18:00 PM

The struggles of Nilkhet booksellers in rain and storm

"If books get damaged in the rain, no one wants to buy them, which means we have to incur severe losses. A few days ago, books worth 4,000 Taka got damaged from my stock and I was unable to sell those books. For someone like me, 4,000 taka is a very substantial amount.” 
26 October 2022, 12:34 PM

Bookworm Bangladesh to vacate shop after 30 years of serving readers

“We tried our best to keep the shop but the tides of change are upon us”, Bookworm announced on their social media today. 
26 October 2022, 09:51 AM

The journey of 'Khwabnama' from a novel to a play

I once thought it was impossible to present the magnitude of the novel on stage.
24 October 2022, 09:47 AM

5 new books we recommend this week

When you go to a book-store, it is often difficult to choose from the plethora of newly released books available. The following list should help when deciding what new books to buy.
23 October 2022, 13:13 PM

Academics discuss Afsan Chowdhury’s ‘Narider Ekattor’

“The liberation war was terrifying for women and this is why Afsan Chowdhury’s book is crucial. It is important to study our culture to understand the history of our liberation war,” said Professor Sonia Nishat Amin.
23 October 2022, 11:56 AM

Dua Lipa stresses the importance of The Booker Prize

When being asked how she finds the time to read, she shared that she reads backstage or in the backseat of her car, on her way to meetings or interviews, “especially if I’m into a book”.
22 October 2022, 13:00 PM

In Memory of Jibanananda Das

By 1954 Jibanananda Das, after years of neglect, was beginning to gain increasing attention as a poet all over Bengal—East or West—and had a steady teaching job after a long, long time. Indeed, in 1953 he had been awarded the Rabindra-Smriti Puroshkar for his book of verse, Banalata Sen. In May, 1954 his Jibanananda Dasher Shreshto Kobita came out from a reasonably good publishing house, collecting his best poems.
21 October 2022, 18:00 PM

SHOUTxDS Books presents ‘Slam Poetry Nights’ — Episode 2

The poems varied from mental health issues to individual freedom of expression and every musing in between.
21 October 2022, 16:38 PM

Post-SSC musings: Books that helped me navigate my vacation

Despite the regret I felt for not studying them with honest academic interest, the goal of having to go through those academic books did provide me a sense of purpose. However, now that exams were over, I realised that I had to replace those mundane books with more fascinating ones.
21 October 2022, 09:23 AM

Monica Ali: Writing on Multicultural London

After a ten-year long hiatus, Monica Ali has returned with Love-Marriage that has has caused quite a stir.
20 October 2022, 02:30 AM

Contradictions in a book on the Bangladesh Liberation War

A "what it really was" analysis of the 1971 war does not mean the description of the actions of India only. It should also cover their mistakes and failures. The cover of this book claims to be a "definitive story", but its research and narrative are not holistic.
19 October 2022, 18:00 PM

Can a city hold a home? - Shagufta Sharmeen Tania’s short story, “What Men Live By”

“What Men Live By” opens like a children’s story—the way Matilda or most Roald Dahl books would start out—with simple, everyday events and straightforward descriptions. Eventually, though, one line caught my attention and I couldn’t help but smile:
19 October 2022, 18:00 PM

What I write about when I write love stories

A long time ago, when I was a young writer who had just published his first collection of short stories and had just been married to a young and lovely woman, I wrote a love story in the first person, which created two unanticipated problems.
19 October 2022, 18:00 PM

A graphic novel on the push and pull of friendships

The stories occur in places deeply etched into many of our memories—from rooftops to buses to benches in the park to the digital world of emails and texts.
19 October 2022, 13:28 PM

ULAB to hold Inter-University Student Conference from Thursday

In a break from last year’s partially virtual format, this year’s event will be held at ULAB’s Permanent Campus in Beribad and its Research Building in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
19 October 2022, 09:44 AM

Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize 2022

The novel opens with a photographer, the eponymous Maali Almeida, who has woken up dead in a celestial visa office, while his body sinks in the Beira Lake in Colombo. Maali has seven moons to find the man and woman he loves and lead them to  "a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka".
18 October 2022, 05:38 AM

Hulu’s ‘Rosaline’ is a witty, predictable parody of ‘Romeo and Juliet’

The movie tells the classic love story from the perspective of Juliet's cousin Rosaline, who happens to be Romeo's recent ex-girlfriend. Crushed when Romeo meets Juliet and begins to pursue her, Rosaline schemes to foil the famous romance and reclaim her man.
17 October 2022, 12:16 PM