I plead but I know there is nothing I can do. Akbar, in a rare fit of courage, tries to intervene. But the old man does not budge. Maybe he knows about Mina and me.

“The roads are too clean. The sun is too bright,” she thought.

Sumedha replied with annoyance, "I will make him say the words. It's so simple, 'Apni kemon achhen, bhalo?' Why can't he say it?"

While reading it, one might feel that they are reading a mother’s confessions while she takes care of her son.

In a world spun from the threads of chaos, we are born into a tapestry of shadows. We are shimmering maidens in the night, nurturing within us a fire both subtle and strong. Yet, the air around us is heavy with whispers–danger and desire intertwined.

Chaos. More chaos.

Review of ‘Needle at the Bottom of the Sea: Bengali Tales from the Land of the Eighteen Tides’ (University of California Press, 2023) translated by Tony K. Stewart

I heard they are changing the dictionary.

When the streetlights flicker, think of every doe-eyed child that the city swallows

The eight girls in Headshot clearly hope to escape the chaos of their lives in the ring.

The 309-page-long dystopian novel is an oppressive account of Eilish who tries to keep her family from falling apart as everything around her crumbles.

Geronimo rushed inside the hole coughing, somehow managing to shut the door behind him. His mother Telapatra grabbed her son, hugging her tight for an instant before smacking him across the back. “How many times did I tell you not to go out at this hour?” cried Telapatra.

There are no lamplights in this end of the neighbourhood. Only tall trees standing upright on either side of the road, their leaves drooping down in lament for a long-forgotten motion.

'The Hippo Girl and Other Stories' holds up a mirror to a society that judges and ridicules those that do not adhere to its shortsighted vision of a homogenised culture.

Callahan’s novel came to her during the pandemic when she found herself waking up with a large ringing noise in her head.

“An exceptional novel that makes gender disappear to build unconventional love and friendship”

He was, like most children, easily amused. Unlike most other children however, he never hesitated to express it. He was full of life and energy.   

From every direction strong torrents meet Collide, counter, and begrudgingly recede.

You must have heard the story of your birth a thousand times by now, sweetheart. Your mother and I—home alone.

It’s hard not to recall our many conversations about literature as I try to summarise Shah Tazrian Ashrafi’s debut collection of short stories. They were always short discussions, opening and closing off in spurts, as happens over text. Exclamations over a new essay collection by Zadie Smith, or a new novel by Isabel Allende.