Did we need two Booker Prize winners?

After six months of reading 151 books longlisted into 11, narrowed down further to six, the Booker Prize judges on October 14 announced this year’s winner—the “best novel” produced in English in the UK and Ireland (regardless of the author’s nationality) over the past one year.
24 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Jibanananda and Barishal

What is Barishal known by? One hundred years back, the unfailing answer was “rice and river.” Half a century ago, the answer might have been a political name- Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq.
18 October 2019, 18:00 PM

The Mona Lisa of Bengali Poetry

The process of reading is consummated in rereading. It is sure to deepen and broaden our understanding of the work and its author, and quite possibly of ourselves as well.
18 October 2019, 18:00 PM

To a Pained One

Now late at night you have a bed
18 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Editor’s Note

Jibanananda Das is probably one of the most read and yet the most neglected poets of Bengal. There is indeed a dearth of critical reading of his work, too.
18 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Jibanananda Das: Poetics, Politics, Political Economy

Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Bengali language. His poetry in particular has already made possible a staggering range of interpretive adventures and hermeneutic excavations, although he wrote 21 novels and 110 short stories that were discovered after his death.
18 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Knocks

Would a few doors remain closed?
11 October 2019, 18:00 PM

A Requiem for Amazonia

Amazon burns Each flame licks a life
11 October 2019, 18:00 PM

A translation of Syed Manzoorul Islam’s short story, “Kathpoka”: Woodworms (Part II)

“I’m doing what I feel like doing. What’s that to you?” Aslam retorted. He opened the door and said, “Like mother, like daughter. Get lost.”
11 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Things I Thought I Thought Tonight

They have given me a grilled piece of chicken and a naan with the face of moon on a plate. The grilled chicken leg is brown with sides turned to dark coal. Grains of burnt spices glaze the piece.
11 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Is Writing a Gift?

If it is, where is this gift coming from? God? Ahem! As off-putting as it might sound, biographies and autobiographies of writers reveal that most so-called gifted writers are scoundrels.
11 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Recitation: An Eminent Form of Art

Getting up on the stage, standing before the microphone and harmonizing some words with melody don’t define recitation.
4 October 2019, 18:00 PM

A Villager’s Guide to Feeding Foreigners

If you’re a straightforward villager like me, you’ll be curious to entertain the foreigner. Before you do there are things to consider. Foreigners have foreign ways; allowances are required. Yet, despite the inherent challenge it’s good to feed one. Even foreigners need to eat.
4 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Woodworms (Part 1)

It’s been three nights that Aslam hasn’t been able to sleep. He has been trying so hard to fall asleep on the divan for three nights – the divan that he fancifully got carpentered and laid out in the study room of his gigantic apartment in Bashundhara, for the specific purpose of lying down to read and eventually doze off.
4 October 2019, 18:00 PM

For Life on Earth

Like melting chocolate Earth melts into angel-smoothe
4 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Longlist for the dsc Prize for South Asian Literature 2019

The US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which is now in its ninth year, announced its keenly awaited longlist on September 25, 2019. The longlist of 15 novels, which represent the best in South Asian fiction writing, was unveiled by the chair of the jury panel Harish Trivedi at a special event at the Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi.
4 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Samarkand: A Review

“Look ‘round thee now on Samarcand, Is she not queen of earth? Her pride Above all cities? In her hand
4 October 2019, 18:00 PM

Searching for One’s Spirit Animal

Many of us have often taken similar tests online. The native Americans believe that from birth to death, there is this animal that guides one through thick and thin. But seriously, do we ever really consider what animal guides us through our lifetime? Are we comfortable
27 September 2019, 18:00 PM

Happy Reading! Bauler Akhray Fa-kirer Deray

There is no denying that folklore is simply the tale of simple human beings, their everyday stories-stories of love and pain, happiness and hardships. Folk literature is different from others as it deals with the root. Folk literature always looks for the opportunity to
27 September 2019, 18:00 PM

Educating Lak-shmi, My Maid

When I got married and came to live in my husband’s home in Salt Lake, I found a very efficient maid called Lakshmi already employed there. Unlike other helping hands she stayed for a long period of time in our house and would volunteer to do extra household chores
27 September 2019, 18:00 PM