Arts & Letters - Dhaka Tribune

Post-traumatic laughter in the age of self-censorship

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 20:00:25 +0600

“Why does so little of Bangladesh’s contemporary art history survive anywhere except someone’s old Facebook album?” was one of the questions Sarridon Collective explored in their exhibition ‘triggered after s*x’, held at Daagi Art Garage from 1–8 August 2026. Months after it closed, those questions and the discussions around them still ruminate in my head. The show looked not so much at... Details

Desert flower

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:34:06 +0600

O David, stop measuring the desert flowers How long will the marigolds be measured by your fine veins? The storm is whimpering for you, and a little rain On a barren land yearning for you to return, How long will the lilies be measured by your fine veins? The Orange Globemallows are not burning in the sun, but in your fire. Listen to the estranged Cactuses, David. They carved your fine... Details

Faith has teeth

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:32:20 +0600

POEM Details

Japanese author Ryu Murakami dies at 74

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 13:26:58 +0600

Murakami died at his home on October 17, according to his Japanese publisher, Gentosha Details

Art Dhaka to bring traditional, contemporary art together in November

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 21:39:41 +0600

The 5-day event at Aloki will feature exhibitions, installations, performances and works spanning traditional, modern and contemporary art Details

Jibanananda Das: A pioneer of surrealism in Bengali poetry

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:45:06 +0600

In his poetry, the differences between reality and unreality, conscious and unconscious, past and present, and life and death often get neutralized. Details

‘A Bed, A Home and Graves’

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:28:13 +0600

Ahmed Rasel’s photography and video installation on climate loss Details

Sally Rooney books withdrawn from UK retailers over Palestine Action support

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:45:48 +0600

She and her publisher, Faber, have agreed to stop supplying her books to UK retailers Details

Home is where the ghost is

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:44:32 +0600

In women’s Gothic fiction, the ghost is rarely the intruder Details

Accra International Airport

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:40:00 +0600

Short Story Details

Waliullah, away from home

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 21:30:04 +0600

The exile, the love, and the unfinished return of Syed Waliullah Details

Bestselling British author Jeffrey Archer dies at 86

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 15:55:19 +0600

The bestselling author died at home days after promoting his final novel Details

The woman who refused to disappear

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 10:22:00 +0600

Review of ‘This Too Is a Story’ by Mannu Bhandari Details

Exploring the process of self-reflection and introspection

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:58:20 +0600

Shamsuddin's solo exhibition at Alliance Française de Dhaka Details

Boygenius

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 20:06:15 +0600

Poetry Details

Building bridges: Lessons from Ta-Nehisi Coates

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:22:26 +0600

Review of World & Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) Details

Gold Over Rot

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 17:34:12 +0600

Poetry Details

Summer, Still

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 17:21:24 +0600

Poetry Details

The Morning After You Leave

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 18:24:41 +0600

Poem Details

Leonard Cohen: The poet behind the voice

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:23:26 +0600

On what would have been his 92nd birthday, from the hush of his songs to the depth of his poetry Details

Notes From a Hungry Homeland

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:10:36 +0600

poem Details

The power-point magician

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:12:00 +0600

Short story Details

‘An Apple Tree Inside the Head’: A film exhibition with no film in it

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 21:21:34 +0600

An unreleased film, told only through its photographs Details

Reading South Asia through its women

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 17:29:43 +0600

Review of 'Narir Kolome Dokkhin Asiar Golpo' (Ferari Publication, 2025) Details

Why does Pather Panchali still call us

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:51:56 +0600

Bandopadhyay sees what many writers fail to: childhood is not about stuff, but fresh joy Details

The art that outlasted the eye

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0600

What does an artist owe their work when the body starts to give out? Four painters—Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Mary Cassatt—faced versions of that question across the same decades Details

The best clock

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:15:59 +0600

From a very young age, Hanif Shankar grew up surrounded by clocks—it was his father’s ardent practice to check the time before doing anything, a habit Hanif adopted at the age of six. He studied on time, ate on time, and slept on time. By twenty-two, he had outpaced everyone in the family and become its first barrister. It wasn’t enough to earn him envious looks from his... Details

Stateless breast

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:10:42 +0600

Short story Details

Untold Story: An exhibition that peeks through the window of memory

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 19:21:10 +0600

The exhibition turns artists' books into vessels for the unspoken Details

Shower Ritual of a Man-eater

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:49:17 +0600

When I go home I wash my claws, over kitchen sink I wash his intestine Till unclogged Details

The scariest thing about Verity might not be Verity

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:26:55 +0600

Review of 'Verity' by Colleen Hoover Details

How ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ rewired rock and roll

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:04:04 +0600

The 1965 album pushed rock music beyond conventional song structures and helped establish folk-rock as a vehicle for literary songwriting Details

The last piece of identity

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 16:54:22 +0600

Mayyu Ali and a generation of poets are writing Rohingya into being Details

Rashed Zaman on his first exhibition, ‘The Quiet Within’

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 20:52:12 +0600

A cinematographer seeking stillness and surrender Details

Bonsai baba

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:00:27 +0600

Translated by Haroonuzzaman Details

Incantation

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:28:02 +0600

Some nights, I say your name until it goes bad in my mouth— Details

The books will always pay the price

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:22:41 +0600

Review of Ray Bradbury's “Fahrenheit 451” (Simon & Schuster) Details

To Civilization

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 12:11:12 +0600

Rabindranath Tagore, from Chaitali (Dated 19 Chaitra 1302 / April 1896) Translated by Ehatasham Ul Hoque Eiten Details

Why Bangladesh must rediscover the joy of reading

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:46:10 +0600

From school libraries to storytelling sessions, fostering a lifelong reading habit is key to developing independent thinkers in an increasingly digital world Details

Before Stockholm, there was Shilaidaha

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:48:26 +0600

From Nobel-winning poetry and national anthems to rural reform and modern art, Rabindranath Tagore's life was shaped by an enduring curiosity that transcended disciplines Details

The meme thief

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:12:20 +0600

The boy’s name is Rafiq, though hardly anyone remembers it anymore. Online he goes by Bhoot Jolokia, a name borrowed from the world’s hottest chili. Details

What freedom is and is not

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:54:45 +0600

Review of Timothy Snyder’s ‘On Freedom’ (Crown, 2024) Details

Madness, Hunger, Ruin

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:13:19 +0600

The girl you are looking at is not a girl She eats brick with her cracked teeth Her tongue is a scalpel, mouth cement Her body is skeleton and flesh Details