books

Elif Shafak's 'Black Milk': Can a writer be a mother too?

Black Milk is an autobiographical documentation of Shafak's hesitation, anxiety, perplexity, and self-discovery as she is about to enter the phase of motherhood.
10 November 2021, 18:00 PM

Some gold, some lemonade, and a whole lot of ambition—the recipe for immigrant success in Sanjena Sathian's 'Gold Diggers'

Sanjena Sathian’s debut novel, Gold Diggers (Penguin Press, 2021), is set in an Indian American enclave within suburban Atlanta, a pressure-
10 November 2021, 18:00 PM

Revisiting 'The Bell Jar': a feminist masterpiece that reverberates through time

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. 
3 November 2021, 11:41 AM

Young-adult mysteries to add to your reading list

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.
31 October 2021, 08:16 AM

The Shelf: New in nonfiction this month

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.
27 October 2021, 18:00 PM

Matthew Salesses demystifies the craft of writing

Storytelling is a space in which, as writers and readers, we experience the ways of how we know the world and interact with it.
27 October 2021, 18:00 PM

Is book blogging in Bangladesh a privilege?

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. 
24 October 2021, 13:36 PM

Ujan Book Review Contest 2021 announces winners, reviews Korean literature in translation

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. 
19 October 2021, 09:05 AM

Breakthrough: A tale of love and prejudice

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).
17 October 2021, 05:46 AM

Books that changed the world: Gilgamesh through the sands of time

The epic antedates even the depiction of the famous Trojan war; it is, in effect, the oldest epic found till date.
13 October 2021, 18:00 PM

Is Bhashan Char really the answer to the Rohingya crisis?

Bhashan Char has lately become a topic of critical debate in the refugee relocation discourse. It is a reality that comes with a harsh reminder of demographic changes within the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and the limits of a highly populated state in supporting an incredibly high number of foreign nationals living in its territory.
13 October 2021, 18:00 PM

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY: Mental health issues in young-adult books

Young-adult books have recently been doing an exceptionally valuable job of incorporating mental health issues into their stories. Following is a list of books that represent various aspects of mental health issues and how people deal with them. 
10 October 2021, 16:37 PM

Discounts galore for Dhaka’s book lovers

In celebration of Independent Bookshop Day, Bookworm Bangladesh, located on the Old Airport Road, are offering a 25 percent discount on all imported books for customers personally visiting their shop and 20 percent off on online orders. The offer ends on October 9. 
9 October 2021, 07:54 AM

ULAB Press launches 'Commemorating Sheikh Mujib’

On the morning of Thursday, October 7, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh saw the launch of ULAB Press with its maiden publication, Commemorating Sheikh Mujib: The Greatest Bengali of the Millenium (2021).
7 October 2021, 14:46 PM

Immigrant experience in focus: Abdulrazak Gurnah wins Nobel in Literature

Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has just been announced as the recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents."
7 October 2021, 11:46 AM

Anuk Arudpragasam's 'A Passage North': Requiem for the textures of time, violent and tender

Sand, water, memory—the grainy, elusive grace they share pervades the experiences making up Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasam’s second novel, A Passage North (Hamish Hamilton, 2021), shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize.
6 October 2021, 18:00 PM

The latest from John Green: The American man’s anthropocene reviewed

If you are familiar with John Green, you might already know of the immense popularity of the New York Times bestselling author, widely popular for his YA fiction, and often dismissed by critics for the same reason.
6 October 2021, 18:00 PM

UPL launches Dr Masum Billah's new book on poverty and land law

The Politics of Land Law: Poverty and Land Legislation in Bangladesh (University Press Ltd, 2021), a book by Dr Masum Billah, Associate Professor of Jagannath University, was launched in a virtual programme held by UPL on October 2, 2021.
3 October 2021, 11:50 AM

Anindita Ghose's 'The Illuminated': Can widowhood be freeing?

Long after I was done reading The Illuminated (HarperCollins India, 2021), by Anindita Ghose, I kept thinking about Girl in White Cotton (2020) by Avni Doshi. If one had to choose any recent novel that captured the crevices of a vacillating mother-daughter relationship accurately, it would be these two.
29 September 2021, 18:00 PM

I remember Kamla Bhasin through her children’s books

Words fall short to describe Kamla Bhasin: how does one begin to describe a force of nature like her? Perhaps the simplest way to do so is with the word ‘love’. Kamla was many things to many people—most famous for her fierce feminism, activism, and work in development, rights, peace and justice. However, at the core of it, I believe, Kamla embodied love.
29 September 2021, 18:00 PM