Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad and Bengali Punthi Sahitya

Abdul Karim posited that it was the Muslims who laid the foundation of the secular and romantic genre in Bengali literature.
20 February 2023

Kabar at 70

Born in a respectable middle-class Muslim family and holder of an Intermediate of Science degree from the Aligarh Muslim University, Munier Chowdhury (1925–1971) was growing up as a fashionable young gentleman with an Islamic worldview till his involvement with Anti-Fascist Writers and Artists Union in 1943,
19 February 2023

Rethinking the linear genealogy of Bangla

As Darwin said, the linguistic system of modern humans has the “power of associating together the most diversified sounds and ideas” to produce an infinite number of sentences.
12 February 2023

Revitalizing Delhi’s school system: A triumphant journey

When Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit the streets in India’s national capital on January 16 this year to protest the alleged non-approval by the Lt Governor Saxena to his government’s proposal to send school teachers abroad for training,
5 February 2023

Munshi Meherullah of Jessore and religious identity in 19th century Bengal

On 7 June 1907, a rural Bengali tailor, Meherullah, died of complications from pneumonia in a small village called Chatiantala, on the banks of the river Bhairab, in Jessore.
29 January 2023

ALAMGIR KABIR: The conscience whipper

Alamgir Kabir’s death anniversary has been an occasion to celebrate and remember him as a prominent film director and tireless film society activist.
22 January 2023

Insights from India’s Nurse Migration: Lessons for Bangladesh

It has now been almost half a century since Indian nurses began migrating abroad, long enough to understand the difficulties and benefits they have encountered in their professional and personal journey. I have studied their migration since the 2000s.
15 January 2023

Misreading Climate Change in Bangladesh

Perilously close to rising sea levels and vulnerable to floods, erosion, and cyclones, Bangladesh is one of the top recipients of development aid earmarked for adaptation to climate change.
8 January 2023

Doing journalism and telling the truth: Zahur Hossain Chowdhury’s ways

Among the editor-journalists in our country, one of the most famous names undoubtedly is Zahur Hossain Chowdhury (1922-1980).
1 January 2023

Home and Displacement

The two words in the title are evocative, complex and slippery.  What after all is “home”, and what does “displacement” really mean? 
25 December 2022

Guarding the silences

51 years after 1971, the birth of Bangladesh continues to evoke a range of emotions in Pakistan. There are civilians – poets,
18 December 2022

Women photographers of the Bangladesh Liberation War

War and women – this phrase usually conjures up an image of women being victimised during war, but there are activities of women, fighting on the battlefield, or even capturing photos with a camera in hand, which represents that time.
15 December 2022

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein and Kazi Nazrul Islam

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein was born in 1880, Kazi Nazrul Islam in 1899. Apart from their difference in gender, there could not have been more differences in the circumstances of their class and upbringing.
11 December 2022

After the Storm

Hafiz Uddin Ahmad leafed through the stack of day-old newspapers in the officer’s mess, scanning headlines in Bengali, English, and Urdu.
4 December 2022

Dhaka before and after Partition

Dhaka has gone through many ups and downs over the past few centuries.
2 December 2022

Chronicling the other Bengal

Writers are drawn to the bleakest of places, Arundhati Roy once said, the way vultures are drawn to kills. I didn’t know the full import of the statement until I began to work on my book,
27 November 2022

Probashi: Histories of the Bangladesh diaspora

The term diaspora originates from the ancient Greek dia speiro meaning a scattering of seeds.
20 November 2022

Buddhist theatre in South Asia and beyond

Ancient Buddhist theatre thrived in South Asia, representing a rich heritage that Bangladesh must rightfully reclaim today.
13 November 2022

Syed Waliullah in Paris

It is well-known that Bangla literature took a new turn in the 1940s. Following the revolutionary work of Kazi Nazrul Islam, we got four powerful poets among Bangalee Muslims: Farrukh Ahmad,
6 November 2022

Marc Riboud’s Bangladesh 1971: Mourning and Morning

Marc Riboud's 1971 war photography provides vital historical documentation of the Bangladesh Liberation War and its aftermath.
30 October 2022