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Moxie: A whitewashed account of second-wave feminism
I’ve lost count of the number of people who have recommended...
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A look into 50 years of Bangladesh-India relations
Bangladesh, the former East Pakistan, may have separated from India...
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Boi Mela 2021: Huge blows dealt to the publishing industry
Very few visitors were seen on the last day of the Boi Mela...
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Sehri Tales 2021 kicks off
After three successful years of sehri-time storytelling, Sehri...
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The essence of Pohela Baishakh in Bangla literature
All things colourful make up the Bangla New Year—boisterous...
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Shahosro Shumon’s new book on the relativity of success
Poet and novelist, Shahosro Shumon, who has recently met with great...
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Jharna Rahman receives the prestigious Ananya Shahittya Puroshkar 1427
On March 16, 2021, renowned writer Jharna Rahman was awarded the...
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Klara and the Sun: Depths of humanity in artificial intelligence
Despite Klara and the Sun (Faber, 2021) coming out on my birthday,...
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An untold story of Black liberation in the Amazon
The New World, as started by Spanish and Portuguese authorities...
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Gyantapas Abdur Razzak Essay Competition celebrated
The results of the essay competition organised by Gyantapas Abdur...
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Demystifying the COVID-19 pandemic
One year ago, I was tracking cases of a novel coronavirus as it was...
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Virtual book launch of ‘Mrittu Amader Protibeshi’
Written by Jubair Shawan and published by Kharimati Prokashani, the...
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History books more popular at this year’s Boi Mela
Sales are starting to look up at the Boi Mela compared to the...
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‘Anubhutir Abhidhan’: A peek into the world of Tahsan Khan
As a lover of books and music, it is no surprise that I would pick...
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Boi Mela stalls damaged by storm
Around 30 stalls at the Ekushey Boi Mela were damaged by the strong...
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Book activities to indulge in during lockdown
Reading has proven to be a popular habit for all ages during this...
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Where’s the cake?
It’s party time in the animal kingdom. A turtle just happens to be...
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Battle cries and sound waves
“Muktishongram-e ami jog diyechhilam bishuddho ekjon biplobi...
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Behind the book covers
Having graduated from the University of Dhaka’s Faculty of Fine...
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A son’s tribute to Rafiq Azad’s poetry
Selected Poems on Love, Environment & Other Difficulties ...
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Did we need a Boi Mela amidst a pandemic?
I was in the middle of a hectic shift at Dhaka Medical College...
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Gothic fiction writ anew in Daisy Johnson’s ‘Sisters’
One of 2020’s more positive highlights was Daisy Johnson’s stunning...
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European languages dominate the 2021 International Booker Prize longlist
The longlist for the prestigious 2021 International Booker Prize...
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A miracle in milk
“Once there was a severe flood in the month of Magh.
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The view from the West
After half a century from where we began, Daily Star Books will spend all of this year—the 50th year of Bangladesh—revisiting and analyzing some of the books that played crucial roles in documenting the Liberation War of 1971 and the birth of this nation. In this sixth installment, we revisit both Khadim Hussain Raja’s A Stranger in My Own Country (Oxford University Press, 2012), in which a retired general gives often problematic views from West Pakistan’s perspective, and Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas’ The Rape of Bangladesh (Vikas Publications, 1971), a pivotal book in changing world opinion on the then-underreported genocide of East Pakistan.
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Four new books to read this March
In July of 2013, Patricia Lockwood wrote the decade’s most immediate and pressing poem, “Rape Joke”. Already by then Lockwood had amassed prizes and praises enough to fill a few cabinets.
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Boi Mela updates as of Friday
The Ekushey Boi Mela, which was inaugurated on March 18, 2021, is stretching out across an expanded space of 1500,000 sq ft to accommodate the 834 stalls allocated to 540 organisations this year.
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The unfortunate Asians of Uganda
In the 1890s, many South Asians were brought to Uganda by the British Empire for administration and development purposes.
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A new book explores the mediascape of Bangladesh
We barely see cross-disciplinary initiatives that try to understand our media, culture, society and politics. In this wake, Dr Ratan Kumar Roy’s Television in Bangladesh: News and Audiences (Routledge, 2021) offers a rich ethnography of television news practices in Bangladesh, with a foreword by Marcus Banks, Professor of Visual Anthropology at Oxford University.
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War of attrition
When searching for literature covering the role of the Mukti Bahini in the victory of 1971, a noticeable dearth of objective analyses is apparent.
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The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire
Here is a door stopper for the lingering period of hibernation. All 522 pages provide ample literary support for long-term homebound inmates.
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Women in publishing
The publishing and literary world in Bangladesh have considerable visibility of women: some are authoritative figures in the literary and academic world, some run their own establishments and bookshops; others occupy senior positions in many of the local publishing houses and literary committees. However, like the systems and society we currently operate in, this industry is also influenced by the larger patriarchal structure.
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The case of the missing girl: Where are we in Bangla children’s literature?
It wasn’t until my 20s that I realised I had read less than 10 Bengali women authors in my childhood and adolescence.
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Five novels with strong women protagonists
Hellfire is at once a book about patriarchy and the toxic strand of matriarchy that supports it. Through the lives of sisters Lovely and Beauty, both kept from socialisation and even attending school deep into middle age, the novel captures near perfectly the convoluted blueprint of life for South Asian women.
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Is science fiction really not a woman’s genre?
Last week, I decided to pen a tribute to my favourite authors of science fiction, a love letter, really, that has long been in the pipeline.
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Once More Into the Past: Essays, Personal, Public, and Literary
“How does Tagore intoxicate a growing young man . . . .? How has Dhaka transitioned through the Partition of Bengal and the birth of the University of Dhaka? . . . . how does one remember-- with nuance, with style-- icons of history and culture . . . .?”
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What does it take to build a business empire?
Binod K Chaudhary, the chairman of the CG Corp Global conglomerate group, is Nepal’s first billionaire and possibly the most successful industrialist in his nation.
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Bill Gates’ blueprint for a greener planet
Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and the world’s fourth-wealthiest person, has written a new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (Knopf, 2021) in which he cites the looming catastrophe of radical global climate change and sets out an incredibly ambitious goal that he argues is the only possible path for our species’ survival: achieving zero.
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Night has brought him something worse: 2021’s first must-read
“The thing was that everyone knew Julita’s parents hadn’t died in any accident: Julita’s folks had disappeared. They were disappeared. They’d been disappeared”.
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Translation with a Midas touch
Abdus Selim, a noted Bangladeshi translator, playwright, essayist and educationist, has, of late, come up with a collection of five plays in Bangla translation titled Panch Manchanubad (Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, 2021).
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Conservation through literature
The River Tales (2021) is a series of graphic novels for children, commissioned by Asia Foundation’s ‘Let’s Read Asia’ digital library project and produced by HerStory Foundation in an effort to raise awareness about Bangladesh’s heritage and culture. Sarah Anjum Bari, editor of Star Books, speaks to Katerina Don, curator at HerStory Foundation, writer Anita Amreen, and artist Sayeef Mahmud about their processes of research, writing, and graphic designing for the series.
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Together against the catastrophe
The 156-page hardback edition will be available in Bangla, English, and German.
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‘Tumi Kon Gogoner Tara’: In remembrance of a mother
A solemn tribute to mothers and to our nation’s unrelenting humanity, Hussain’s novel shows us the people and the Bangladesh we could more often be.
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Boibondhu book exchange festival takes place at Rabindra Sarobar
The event witnessed participation from people of all ages, from toddlers to adults.
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In death, he became visible
Vivek Oji, the titular character in Akwaeke Emezi’s second novel, is dead; this is stated in the title, the first line, and throughout the book. However, in every chapter, Vivek keeps coming alive, images of him rising out of the text’s surface only to dissolve again.
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Serajul Islam Chowdhury speaks about the state of Bangla education
Language and education are prime markers in identifying one’s participation in society and politics. Having just commemorated the International Mother Language Day on February 21, that too on the verge of our nation’s silver jubilee, it is perhaps a unique opportunity for us to question, reflect, and make changes to our politics on language, education, and social identities.
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Prelude to a national disintegration
After half a century from where we began, Daily Star Books will spend all of this year—the 50th year of Bangladesh—revisiting, celebrating, and analyzing some of the books that played pivotal roles in documenting the Liberation War of 1971 and the birth of this nation.
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The spirit of sharing defines the end of February 2021
In this last week of February, a shared sense of optimism, however cautious, is pervading much of the world and indeed our own. Slowly, and now safely, more and more events and programmes are opening their doors. Book enthusiasts can enjoy the following events this week:
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Tahmima Anam, Monica Ali, Leesa Gazi, and Nasima Bee discuss ‘Sultana’s Dream’ for The British Library
On February 22, 2021, The British Library hosted “Sultana’s Dream: Contemporary Fiction of Bangladeshi Origin”, a free virtual session on Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s feminist utopian novella.
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Lyricist Gazi Mazharul Anwar launches book, ‘Olpo Kothar Golpo Gaan’
Olpo Kothar Golpo Gaan includes 200 of these iconic songs.
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Sister Library participants read Ferdousi Priyabashini’s ‘Nindito Nondon’
Fuleshwary Priyanandini recounted the stories she was told by her mother.
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Razia Khan: Life and Literature Archived
For anyone looking to immerse themself in the literary culture of Bangladesh, Professor Razia Khan Amin’s name and presence are unavoidable.
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The (D)Evolution of the Paranoid Android
To write of Radiohead’s 2000 album Kid A is to add to the palimpsest of its criticism, at this stage a glowing, impossibly effusive set of texts.
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Where folktales meet social commentary
I stumbled across a short story written by Aoko Matsuda called “Quite a Catch” in the Wasafiri literary magazine last month.