Arts&Letters November2017

DHAKA TRIBUNE | THURSDAY, november 9, 2017 

16 

adonis: 

18 

the poet 

Bengali fiction 

writers 

20 

persecution of 

the rohingyas

2 

Editor 

Zafar Sobhan 

Editor 

Arts & Letters 

Rifat Munim 

Supplement Team 

Sayeeda T Ahmad 

Mir Arif 

Marouf 

Luba Khalili 

Shuprova Tasneem 

Design 

Mahbub Alam 

Alamgir Hossain 

Shahadat Hossain 

Cover 

Syed Rashad Imam 

Tanmoy 

Illustration 

Syed Rashad Imam 

Tanmoy 

Colour Specialist 

Shekhar Mondal 

Two poems by Adonis 

Song 

– translated by Khaled Mattawa 

from ‘Elegy for the First Century’ 

Bells on our eyelashes 

and the death throes of words, 

and I among fields of speech, 

a knight on a horse made of dirt. 

My lungs are my poetry, my eyes a book, 

and I, under the skin of words, 

on the beaming banks of foam, 

a poet who sang and died 

leaving this singed elegy 

before the faces of poets, 

for birds at the edge of sky. 

The Beginning of Speech 

– translated by Khaled Mattawa 

The child I was came to me 

once, 

a strange face 

He said nothing We walked 

each of us glancing at the other in silence, our steps 

a strange river running in between 

We were brought together by good manners 

and these sheets now flying in the wind 

then we split, 

a forest written by earth 

watered by the seasons’ change. 

Child who once was, come forth— 

What brings us together now, 

and what do we have to say? 

Editor's note 

Bringing out this special issue has been a wonderful experience of literary and intellectual 

exercise that involved cooperation and contribution, through interviews and articles, from a 

wide array of writers from around the world. 

This is a 32-page arrangement dedicated solely to the Dhaka Lit Fest 2017. All the articles, 

reviews, profiles and interviews in this issue, in some way or another, introduce readers to the 

Bangladeshi and foreign writers and artistes who are attending the country’s biggest literary 

festival this year. In some cases, Bangladeshi writers (or writers of Bangladeshi origin), some 

of whom are speakers themselves, have written in lucid prose about the foreign authors and 

speakers joining this year. Foreign authors have also contributed through interviews. This 

spontaneous response from the authors, I must say, has been the most exciting part of this 

creative exercise. 

Putting together the articles, keeping in mind the need for representing all genres and 

branches of art, has been a challenging task, which would not have been possible without the 

contribution of a brilliant team of young writers, journalists and graphics designers from the 

Dhaka Tribune who worked very hard to make this supplement happen. Thanks are also due to 

Dhaka Tribune’s Editor Zafar Sobhan and its Publisher Kazi Anis Ahmed, who’s also a director of 

the DLF, for their all-out support. 

I hope readers find it a read worth their while. 

Rifat Munim 

War 

Kaiser Haq 

For Khademul Islam 

Sir 

Said the interviewer 

You have fought 

For the country’s independence 

Yes 

In 1971 

I was one of the hundred 

Thousand strong 

Rag-tag army 

Of freedom-fighters 

Now 

That Victory Day 

Is approaching 

Once again 

Can you tell us 

In a few words 

What is war 

Well 

War is war 

But what is it like 

It’s like sex 

There are two 

Parties 

You sniff around 

The other Party 

Stalking 

Taking a good look 

You wait 

Humming a silly tune 

Excitement rises 

At a sighting 

You have a brush 

You follow 

You try to corner 

Close in 

For a big bang 

But war 

Is not like sex 

In one simple respect 

It cannot 

Give 

Mutual satisfaction 

ARTS & LETTERS DHAKA TRIBUNE | THURSDAY, november 9, 2017

From the Directors of Dhaka Lit Fest: 

A note 

The seventh edition of Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) will host over 200 

speakers, performers and thinkers, representing 24 countries, 

making it our largest and the most diverse gathering so far. 

Together we can take a moment to enjoy our achievement: 

Dhaka and indeed Bangladesh is firmly placed on the international literary 

calendar. 

Like every year, our programme will celebrate diversity and pluralism, 

other languages and cultures, whilst highlighting our own, which is our 

way of saying “no to walls,” walls of all kinds. We have more in common 

with the rest of the world than we sometimes care to remember. Let 

the three days of DLF be a reminder for the importance of unity, bring a 

glimmer of hope in an age of pessimism, and inspire minds -- young and 

experienced -- to strive for all the things worth fighting for: Freedom of 

expression, freedom of thought and the importance of words. 

This year we are honoured to be able to host not one but two literary 

prizes. We hope you will join us for the announcement of the prestigious 

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature as well as the Gemcon Literary 

Awards, the highest monetary value literary prize in Bangladesh, at our 

festival. Other highlights include panels discussing timely issues, oneon-one 

interviews, readings and recitations, film screenings, and book 

launches. The festival will feature winners of the Man Booker, Goethe, 

Wolfson, Orange, Olivier, the Oscar and numerous other international 

awards. In such a rare gathering of luminaries, which is special anywhere 

in the world, we take pride in highlighting our own literary and artistic 

talents. 

We are excited to launch Granta in Bangladesh, a literary journal that 

needs no introduction, and we hope this foundation will be the platform 

for more Bangladeshi writers -- writing in Bangla and English -- to be 

published in their pages and read by millions around the world. It is in 

this spirit that we have been working throughout the year to promote 

translations of Bangla writing. We wish to thank all our sponsors, patrons, 

partners, supporters, our hosts Bangla Academy, and a special mention 

goes to the Ministry of Culture. 

We have recently opened our borders to over half a million Rohingyas 

purely on humanitarian grounds. In doing so, in spite of being a developing 

nation, we outclassed many rich nations, and our Prime Minister -- aside 

from earning plaudits -- won hearts from all around the world. We hope 

an event like DLF will help draw the world’s attention away from tired 

stereotypes to the evolving nature of our ever resilient, ever advancing 

country. We could go on, but we will conclude our note here by thanking 

you -- our audience -- for your energy, enthusiasm, and especially the love, 

which you show through your participation every year. We are able to take 

the festival to such heights because of you. 

– Sadaf Saaz, Ahsan Akbar, K Anis Ahmed 

Directors, Dhaka Lit Fest 

3 


ARTS & LETTERS

The story of DLF 

How things have changed! 

Sadaf Saaz, 

director and 

producer of Dhaka 

Lit Fest, is a poet. 

Sari Reams, her 

first collection 

of poems, was 

published by 

University Press 

Limited in 2013. 

4 

• Sadaf Saaz 

When we started the festival we had ambitious dreams. Despite 

having a rich tradition of literature stretching back well over 

a thousand years, Bangladeshi writing remained largely unknown 

throughout the world. Contemporary writers, apart 

from a few, were also cut off from the global literary landscape. We wanted the 

festival to feature the best of our literature and culture, past and present, and 

be a platform take our stories way beyond our borders. We envisaged bringing 

the world’s greatest minds to Bangladesh – to inspire a new generation to 

think broadly and diversely, beyond the confines of an insular nationalism; to 

be inspired to put in the dedication to produce work that could stand among 

the best. 

While our mission to connect across borders and engage with other literatures 

and cultures was the original impetus for the festival, our growth 

throughout recent years has been achieved in the backdrop of a new reality, 

that none of us imagined when we embarked on this journey. The early years 

of the festival were encouraging – it felt like a renaissance of sorts. New English 

imprints and literary journals emerged, modern translations were commissioned, 

our authors were starting to get international book deals and took 

part in international literary festivals, and we had begun connecting to fellow 

writers, poets, agents and publishers across the world, alongside celebrating 

the pluralism and syncretism of Bangladesh. 

The ramifications of the war crime trials, the murder of writers and publishers 

in Bangladesh, and further killings and threats against creative personalities, 

progressives and foreigners, and importantly, the changing global scenario 

with the rise of extremisms and intolerance, has meant that over time 

the festival has taken on a new urgency. This space matters. Nearly every year 

since 2012 we have been asked if we will cancel the festival. Even though we 

have faced numerous challenges, we felt that it was more important than ever 

that we continue to encourage discourse and dialogue, to have the difficult 

conversations that we need to have, to explore alternate narratives, and to 

actually talk to each other rather than being smug in our own echo chambers. 

As Bangladeshis we have always been passionate about language, and the 

freedom to express ourselves. Yet suddenly that which we had always taken 

for granted was under threat. In 2015 we decided to rebrand the festival to 

bring Dhaka to the forefront. In that year we were faced with unprecedented 

obstacles, with 19 authors dropping out; and yet we were still determined to 

keep the festival going, In the end, over 15,000 attended despite a shutdown 

of Facebook right before the festival, a strike on the first day of the festival, 

and the execution of war criminals on the final evening. 

What had started out as a great idea to take Bangladeshi literature to the 

world, and to bring a part of the world to us, has turned into somewhat of a 

mission to stand up for what we believe in. To continue to protect a space for 

free discourse at a time when around the world such spaces are under pressure. 

While connecting with the world, we are also rediscovering ourselves 

-- and our roots of tolerance and respect for different cultural influences, by 

bringing, for example, rural theatrical and oral forms to urban Dhakaites, as 

well as the rest of the world. We feature a range of diverse topics, from fiction 

to literary non-fiction, poetry to history, science to graphic novels, in what is 

truly festival of thoughts and ideas. Every year we have strong women’s panels, 

bringing out stories that need to be heard -- from women’s monologues, 

to strides made by young women in different professons, to discussing why 

what a woman wears needs to be discussed. This year there will be sessions on 

sexual violence, and a celebration of stories of super-girls. We are also having 

those difficult conversations surrounding religion and sexuality, to counteract 

growing fundamentalist forces. In 2012 we came under criticism for holding 

an international festival on the grounds of Bangla Academy, the soul of Bangla 

literature. However, the festival has emerged as an important forum where 

Bangla is side by side with English, with audiences engaging with both English 

and Bangla writers, and attending sessions in both languages, rather than 

being in separate worlds. We have also have had simultaneous translations in 

selected sessions from last year into both languages. Translations have always 

been a mainstay of our festival year upon year, as have celebrating almost-forgotten 

languages of this region. 

As we move into our 7th year, it seems pressing to question the way we 

look and talk about literature. We feel Dhaka Lit Fest can be a place to try and 

change perspectives from an anglophile, or west vs east divide, to bring out 

important but often marginalised voices from the periphery, and to encourage 

a range of narratives that may not be represented in popular discourse. It also 

seems urgent to have conversations of global relevance, some of which do not 

seem as possible in the places that we had previously turned towards, to challenge 

and interrogate the status quo. • 


Interview 

‘It is about celebrating diversity and pluralism’ 

Ahsan Akbar on the elaborate arrangement of DLF 2017 

As a festival director, how do you feel about Adonis, the greatest living poet 

in Arabic, joining this year’s Dhaka Lit Fest? 

Like my two co-directors, I feel extremely happy and proud to be able to 

bring a living legend of world literature all the way to Bangladesh. It must be 

mentioned, that without the strong recommendation from Sir Vidia and Lady 

Naipaul, this wouldn’t have been possible. That is also a great testament to 

the brilliance of not just our organising capabilities of the festival, but also to 

the warmth, enthusiasm and love the Naipauls felt from our audiences when 

they were here last year. Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone, 

and a special mention to Khademul Islam, who gave Sir Vidia company one 

afternoon when I couldn’t. 

Born in 1930, Adonis is 87 now, and has been living in Paris for the most 

part of his life. He speaks little English – fluent in French and of course Arabic 

– and hardly attends literary festivals, preferring his solitude to write and you 

can see the prolific number of books coming out every year. 

My co-director K Anis Ahmed and I went to see him in Paris last year. It was 

our only way to convince him to come to Dhaka. We were delighted when he 

asked us to meet him in Les Deux Magots, which as our readers would know, 

is a famous café in Saint-Germain-des-Prés area, known for its rich literary 

connections. Adonis charmed us by his calligraphic skills, while signing our 

copies of his books, and the numerous stories from his remarkable – yet 

struggling – life. Towards the end of the evening Adonis said two things that 

I’ll always remember. “You have eyes like a poet”, to me, and to his daughter: 

“Dhaka, Dhaka… we have to go, Anis and Ahsan came to see me, so I have 

to go see them”. Adonis is a man of his word, and tremendous honour, to be 

undertaking this long journey at this age for us. 

The international lineup boasts some of the biggest luminaries in different 

areas of art. Would you shed some light on the idea of the mix? 

We do this every year, and consciously. It is about celebrating diversity and 

pluralism. So for example, we have Sir David Hare, one of the worlds leading 

playwrights joining us along with his wife Lady Nicole Farhi. Theatre is 

important, as is any form of the arts, and fashion design is another strand of 

creative expression. But there are other conversations to be had, which may 

not seem apparent immediately. For example, is traditional theatre going to 

be obsolete in the age of Netflix, or should it adapt more technology to draw 

in the crowds? Sir David has a lot to say on this, for example. 

After doing it for seven years, we think we know what our audiences enjoy, 

and it is the diversity of the panels that make our programme particularly 

strong whilst ensuring that literary themes are very much at the forefront of 

the festival. 

It is evident that the DLF is getting ever stronger in terms of embracing 

writers and artistes from diverse cultures and fields. Is this aspect going to 

constitute one of the main themes of the festival this year too? 

Yes, indeed. This year we have over 200 speakers, performers and artists 

representing 24 countries, and that’s a considerable jump from last year when 

we had 18 countries represented. Whilst we dream of more inclusivity, one 

must also keep in mind the increasing costs of putting on the festival every 

year. We are grateful to two big supporters of our event: the Ministry of 

Culture and Bangla Academy, and our private sponsors are really wonderful 

for they “get it.” 

Many corporate houses in our country, and the profitable ones with huge 

amounts of revenues coming their way, sadly don’t even see the merit of a 

literary festival. We know because we approach them for sponsorships 

every year, scoring luck with the few names of corporate houses and 

institutions you see on our posters. If one doesn’t invest in promoting the 

arts, it’s not just myopia but also, in some way, irresponsible. If we want to 

fight extremism in our country, we certainly need more patrons of the arts 

and culture. Not wanting to sound to pessimistic, if we struggle to raise 

money every year, we have two options: 1) to reduce the diversity of the 

festival, i.e. make it a smaller programme and 2) end the idea completely. 

We certainly don’t want to do either of them, and we definitely are not 

going to start charging tickets, unlike many festivals around the world. 

Tell us something about the local Bengali authors, writers and activists whose 

works and voices will be highlighted this year. 

We take a lot of pride in showcasing our talents to the rest of the world. 

Can you imagine a festival that invites all kinds of luminaries, only to have 

nothing to show from their own turf? I mean that would be so unfortunate 

and unworkable too. Fortunately we are blessed with some amazing literary 

minds and artistic talents in our country. We have two books from the Library 

of Bangladesh series. I’m particularly looking forward to the launch of two 

novellas by Imdadul Haq Milon, translated by Saugata Ghosh. But most of all, 

I’m thrilled to hear Helal Hafiz read from his works; one of my favourite poets, 

and I believe it would be special for anyone who is familiar with contemporary 

Bangla poetry. 

We have tremendously eloquent speakers who can discuss and debate on 

a number of contemporary issues: Masuda Bhatti, Mahbub Aziz, Salimullah 

Khan, Nasreen Jahan, Hossain Zillur Rahman, Firoz Ahmed and Aly Zaker who 

is a man of many talents. We have wonderful fiction writers like Moinul Ahsan 

Saber, Selina Hossain, Zakir Talukder, and many others joining us. Celebrated 

poets like Nirmalendu Goon, Asad Chowdhury and the younger generation of 

poets like Shamim Reza and others. See page 6 

5 


ARTS & LETTERS

David Hare 

Hit your time and speak to your time 

His politics is what makes him one of the most anticipated speakers at DLF 2017 

Abdus Selim 

is a writer and 

translator. He is 

professor of English 

and Linguistics 

at North South 

University and 

Cental Women’s 

University. He’s 

the sole Bengali 

translator of one 

of Hare’s plays. 

• Abdus Selim 

Though being a stage play devotee I had 

come across David Hare’s name as a highly 

acclaimed British playwright of our 

time long before, it was not until I listened 

to a Hard Talk interview of him on BBC in 

2010, perhaps conducted by Tim Sebastian, 

that I was incentivised to explore online 

for more information on his literary 

works. In Bangladesh, as we all know, it is 

not easy to find the latest foreign publications 

as one desires or requires. 

As implied, watching the Hard Talk interview 

was a thoroughly refreshing experience 

for me especially because of his 

candid assertions and liberal standpoints 

on contemporary political events—about 

Iraq war in particular. My online surfing 

strongly endorsed the impression that 

I’d already acquired listening to his interview, 

and a ready example can be found in his comments that he made to 

The Sunday Telegraph once, “I wanted a social democratic government, and I 

thought Blair was the best prime minister for 50 years.” 

After a few years, in 2008, The Telegraph again in an article titled ‘Sir David 

Hare: This knight is haunted by a sense of betrayal,’ the writer of the article 

William Langley phrased the playwright’s disillusionment like this, “He [David 

Hare] spent years raging against the dying of the Left, then thought he’d 

found a savior in Tony Blair. His new play shows what happens when the messiah 

turns out to be a Judas.” 

I could also get hold of two very significant quotes (undated) of David Hare 

on politics, politicians and creative writers at the time of my web surfing and 

find them very relevant contextually. The first reads, “What politicians want 

and what creative writers want will always be profoundly different, because 

I’m afraid all politicians, of whatever hue, want propaganda, and writers want 

the truth, and they’re not compatible.” This reminds me of my reading and 

translation of Shakespeare’s King Lear in which the duke of Gloucester, after 

his eyes were gouged out, was advised by Lear to get two glass-eyes fixed like 

the politicians (they have natural glass-eyes that never show the reality) because 

those glass-eyes would make him see things like politicians who could 

easily see what the common people never could (all-out development of the 

country). And the second, which happens to be the prompt of my title for the 

present article, “The most important playwright’s gift is to hit your time and 

speak to your time.” 

In fact, David Hare is a truth-finder and in no way a propagandist, and at 

the same time a creative writer who hits his time and speaks to his time as 

well. This I came to know when I read his two plays in 2011, Stuff Happens 

(2004) and The Vertical Hour (2006), both of which were themed on the Iraq 

War—the first on pre-war political hullabaloo and viciousness of the two big 

powers, USA and UK, and the second on its aftermath. 

Immediately after the Hard Talk experience, I happened to be on a trip 

to the USA and wasted no time in buying three plays by David Hare out of 

which my perfect and of course very thoughtful selection was The Vertical 

Hour. The reason was, the playwright uniquely presented his honest ideas 

and arguments on the aftermaths of the Iraq War and also what the British 

people thought about it. Upon reading the play, I was soon tempted to render 

it into Bangla, especially to show our readers and drama lovers how politically 

significant a British playwright could be regarding a very heated and divided 

issue of our time. Though I am biased towards verbatim translation of plays 

and opposed to their adaptations, for a particular reason, I, for the first time, 

opted for transformation of the play into a Bangladeshi framework. The reason 

was, as far as the Iraq War was concerned, opinions of both the British and 

the Bangladeshi people were, and still are the same. It was a war fought for 

nothing causing death to thousands of people and giving birth to many more 

unforeseen political and humanitarian crises! My task of adaptation thus became 

easy. 

But that is not the lone reason for my being fascinated with the plot of the 

play. Other reasons are the underlying interplay of some never-ending issues 

like Freud, Oedipus, atheism, dialectical and historical materialism of Karl 

Marx, real life anecdotes, free and frank discourses on age-long clash between 

capitalism and communism, ethnic cleansing in East Europe and Arab countries, 

local/home made and global terrorism, hypocritical modernism, journalistic 

ethics and most of all, human fragility and frailty vis-a-vis enigma of 

love. All of these materials have taken the play to a mystic and meaningful 

height. Though my adapted play titled Prolombito Prohor in Bangla could not 

have more than three stage performances so far, I still feel it has an inherent 

potential of contemporaneity that will help shape human feelings and logic 

rationally. 

Though David Hare has confessed, “I fell into writing plays by accident. But 

the reason I write plays is that it’s the only thing I’m any good at,” he is so good 

at it that he rightly hits his time and speaks to his time by being both socially 

and politically true and conscious. • 

6 

Continued from page 5 

What are the most anticipated events and panels of DLF 2017? 

I’d say if one looks at the programme in full, s/he will be torn between 

panels -- every panel we have put together is actually brilliant and a lot of 

thought and hard work went into them. We have over 100 sessions and each 

has been carefully selected and curated. Some of the bigger names -- who 

are well known to our audiences -- will draw more crowds and there won’t 

be enough seating space during their sessions: Adonis, Ben Okri, William 

Dalrymple, Lionel Shriver, Helal Hafiz, Nirmalendu Goon, and of course, 

our beloved White Witch from Narnia: Tilda Swinton! My tip: come early, 

come for the whole day and chalk out a plan amongst your friends to secure 

seats in the sessions and there will also be the surprises. For example, 

Granta launch will be special as will be the literary prize giving ceremonies. 

Is there any feature that you think distinguishes this year’s arrangement 

from the previous ones? 

We will have three things that will stand out: 1) more security because we 

have already doubled the number of online registrations from last year, 

2) two literary prizes including the announcement of the prestigious DSC 

Prize for South Asian Literature, which was hosted by Jaipur Literature 

Festival and a A-list name from Hollywood. That doesn’t happen every 

year, as its not done easily, and you certainly don’t want to miss it, nor you 

want to sit at home when some of the biggest names are in your city. It’s too 

good to be true: a free ticket to see all these names in one venue over one 

weekend. If someone told me this when I was growing up in Dhaka in the 

1980s/90s, I would have thought two words: “wishful thinking.” • 

www.ahsanakbar.com 

@kobial 


Profile 

Tilda Swinton: 

Master of metamorphosis 

• Hamilton Hodell Agency 

Born into a family from the Scottish Borders, Tilda Swinton worked 

as a humanitarian volunteer in Africa for two years after she left 

school, following which she studied social and political sciences at 

Cambridge University. 

She started making films with the English experimental director Derek 

Jarman in 1985, with Caravaggio. They made seven more films together, 

including The last of England, The Garden, WarRequiem, Edward II (for 

which she won the Best Actress award at the 1991 Venice International Film 

Festival), and Wittgenstein, before Mr Jarman’s death in 1994. She gained wide 

international recognition in 1992 with her portrayal of Orlando, a film based 

on the novel by Virginia Woolf and directed by Sally Potter. 

Swinton has also appeared in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation; David Mackenzie’s 

Young Adam; Mike Mills’ Thumbsucker and Francis Lawrence’s Constantine; 

Béla Tarr’s The Man from London, Andrew Adamson’s blockbuster The 

Chronicles of Narnia tales; Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton – for her performance 

in which, she received both the BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best 

Supporting Actress of 2008 – and Erick Zonca’s Julia, which won for Swinton 

the Evening Standard’s Best Actress award and which performance was 

named as Indiewire’s hands-down favourite of that year. 

In 2010, Swinton shot Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk about Kevin which 

went into the main competition at Cannes the following year to huge critical 

acclaim. She also starred as Minister Mason in Snowpiercer, directed by Bong 

Joon Ho and released in 2014 for which she won numerous critics’ awards 

for best supporting actress at the end of that year. Tilda also features in the 

critically acclaimed comedy Trainwreck, from Amy Schumer, directed by Judd 

Apatow, the Marvel Studios blockbuster Doctor Strange, from director Scott 

Derrickson, War Machine, directed by David Michod and most recently the 

critically acclaimed Netflix and Plan B feature, Okja directed by Bong Joon Ho. 

She has established rewarding ongoing filmmaking relationships with Jim 

Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive, Broken Flowers and The Limits of Control), 

with Lynn Hershman-Leeson with whom she made Conceiving Ada, Teknolust 

and Strange Culture, with fine artist Doug Aitken, for Sleepwalkers and Song 1 – 

which took over the entire facades of MoMA and the Smithsonian respectively 

– with Wes Anderson on the movies Moonrise Kingdom in 2011 and The Grand 

Budapest Hotel in 2014, with the Coen Brothers on Burn after Reading and 

Hail Caesar! and especially with Luca Guadagnino alongside whom she has 

worked for over 20 years, made several experimental projects – the widely 

applauded I Am Love which she co-produced over the span of a decade, 2016’s 

celebrated A Bigger Splash and the forthcoming Suspiria – and with whom she 

is producing a number of projects for the future. 

In 2016, The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger was premiered 

at the Berlinale, an essay film about the writer and philosopher, which she cowrote, 

co-produced and co-directed with The Derek Jarman Lab. 

In 1995 she conceived and performed her acclaimed site-specific live-art 

piece The Maybe – in which she presents herself lying asleep in a glass case – 

which was originally performed at The Serpentine Gallery in London with an 

installation she devised in collaboration with sculptor Cornelia Parker. The 

following year, in collaboration with the French artists Pierre et Gilles, she 

performed the piece at the Museo Baracco in Rome. 

In 2013, she revived The Maybe at MoMA in New York, where the specifics 

of its incarnation there meant that it appeared unannounced, unaccompanied 

by an artist’s commentary, official images or finite schedule, in various spaces 

in the museum. 

In the summer of 2008 Swinton, in collaboration with Mark Cousins, 

In 2016, The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits 

of John Berger was premiered at the Berlinale, 

an essay film about the writer and philosopher, 

which she co-wrote, co-produced and codirected 

with The Derek Jarman Lab 

created the Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams – a grassroots, joyfully 

anarchic, family-based film festival in her hometown of Nairn, Scotland, 

intended as a one-off, not to be repeated, event. In 2009 Swinton and Cousins 

both co-curated a Scottish Cinema of Dreams edition in Beijing and also 

brought another festival to Scotland – A Pilgrimage. This week-long event 

involved a mobile cinema that travelled and was bodily pulled for an hour 

each day, from Kinlochleven on the west coast of Scotland to Nairn on the 

east coast. All three festivals – unique and un-repeated – became events of 

considerable international interest. She has curated and produced a number 

of other film-related events from Iceland to Thailand. 

Tilda and Olivier Saillard have created four original performances together 

– The Impossible Wardrobe in 2012, Eternity Dress in 2013, Cloakroom in 2014 

and Sur Exposition in 2016 – all performed for the Festival d’Automne in 

Paris. In 2015, Swinton and Saillard co-authored a box of books, published by 

Rizzoli, documenting the first three of these works. 

This autumn, Tilda was the guest speaker at the British Film Institute’s 

Luminous Gala, which sees the industry’s most celebrated figures come 

together to raise important funds for the BFI. In October, she was an honoree 

at the prestigious Lumiere film festival in Lyon. 

She is the mother of twins and lives in the Scottish Highlands. • 

7 


ARTS & LETTERS

Essay 

Ben Okri: 

Redefining the worlds 

of fiction and reality 

Syed Manzoorul 

Islam is one of 

Bangladesh’s most 

famous fiction 

writers. He’s also 

a speaker at DLF 

2017. 

8 

• Syed Manzoorul Islam 

When Ben Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for his novel The 

Famished Road in 1991, the news was flashed in the front page 

of many Dhaka dailies. A reporter of a Bangla daily, out of his 

admiration for him, added a few lines of his own to a Reuters 

report where he said that the prize was a vindication of Okri’s power to evoke 

the magical and the spiritual as a defence against the all-pervasive material 

culture of our time. I read the news with obvious satisfaction as I had begun 

to appreciate his storytelling skills after reading Incidents at the Shrine which 

had come out a few years earlier. I found the reporter’s enthusiastic comment 

not quite off the mark, as Okri had indeed made the magical and the mystical 

an integral part of the everydayness of the people and community he wrote 

about. I planned to buy a copy of the book and read it at my leisure, but the 

literary editor of a daily where I wrote a regular column commissioned me to 

write a review of the book and gave me only a week. 

He sent me a copy of The Famished Road which sat on 

my table for a couple of days as I struggled to finish 

the tasks at hand. I almost wished Okri hadn’t got the 

prize that year as reading a book under compulsion 

was no fun. But when I finally picked up the book I 

found it a compelling read just as Incidents was, except 

that it was a novel and Okri had more space to spin 

his narrative webs. I still remember how I was drawn 

by the stories of the earlier book into a strange world 

which was as starkly real as a warfield and as mystical 

as dimly remembered dreamscapes. The eight stories 

of the book deal with such subjects as the Biafran war, 

the endemic poverty that Okri saw in marginalised 

communities in his country, and the military rule in 

many of the African nations that has left a myth of 

”the street of hate” as a legacy to be painfully borne 

by Okri’s generation. I was fascinated by the way he 

used a variety of narrative perspectives—sometimes 

looking at the world through the eyes of a ten-yearold 

boy, sometimes from the point of view of a man 

relentlessly haunted by images, and sometimes 

through the lens of a strangely detached observer 

who communicates through signs and symbols that 

relate to a deeper level of meaning. Okri appears 

to believe that there are stories everywhere, which, like Bruce Chatwin’s 

“Songlines,” assume a voice if someone with an appreciation of the unseen 

and the unknown cares to listen. 

Reading The Famished Road, I was once again intrigued by Okri’s use of 

the narrator figure who, in this novel, is a spirit child named Azaro (meaning 

“born to die” in Yoruba) who combines in his tiny but stubborn frame the 

quintessential storyteller and a suffering soul who endures poverty and 

violenece but is determined to help his family and the community. He 

alternately inhabits the world of reality and the world of dreams where space 

and time lose their meaning, so his narrative contains both the imprints of 

reality and the dream logic of a beguiling narrative, except that for most part 

of the novel it’s hard to tell which one is which. This confusion is an aspect 

of Azaro’s growth and prepares him to face the inevitable: Either he fights to 

keep his place in the world of the living or is whisked off to the world of the 

unborn by his spirit friends. The two worlds that Azaro lives in often overlap, 

and each, in strange ways, defines the other. While the spirit world and the 

world of hunger and suffering clash around him, Azaro has to remain steadfast 

in the pursuit of his mission. 

The Famished Road employs a language that is rich and evocative, and at 

times, poetic. I later read some of Okri’s poems whose narrative frames seem 

to belong to the extraordinary world of his fiction which exits at many levels. 

Like Azaro, Okri also straddles the world of realistic storytelling and the world 

of mythical dreamscapes. 

His evocation of the magical has led some critics 

to consider him a magical realist in the same vein as 

Gabriel García Márquez. But I tend to believe that his 

magical world is not an alternative, or even a parallel 

to lived reality but an inherent part of it so that the 

spiritual, the fantastic and the unknown become 

integral to its complex fabric. Reality for him does not 

exist in one dimension; it rather has several overlapping 

dimensions and layers. When reality becomes thus 

layered, it ceases to offer clear outlines, and every layer 

assumes a validity of its own. This happens in folklore 

narratives and this also happens in life when the world 

closes in and we begin to look for a way out. 

Okri has been a crusader against rights abuse and 

discrimination on the grounds of class, colour, race and 

ethnicity. At the same time he cautions fellow writers 

against playing for the western gallery by writing 

about “overwhelming subjects” such as colonialism, 

slavery and war. He too writes about these subjects 

but without being told by others, and in a way that 

upholds the uniqueness of his storytelling heritage. 

Like a public intellectual, he rallies people around 

issues that touch people’s lives today. I’ve noticed with 

interest how Jeremy Corbin draws from the strength of 

Okri’s idealism and conviction; how Obama became a 

figure for him who could change the world and effectively equalise the demons 

that Trump has released. The survivors of London’s Grenfell tower fire drew 

immense solace from the poem he wrote on the tragedy which pricked the 

conscience of people across England. What I particularly admire is Okri’s use of 

irony in the poem that clinches his argument well before it is fully articulated. 

In the poem he evokes TS Eliot in these lines: 

Those who were living are now dead 

Those who were breathing are from the living earth fled 

The oblique reference to Eliot’s lamentation for a world gone waste and his 

pinning hopes on a spiritual regenaration seems particularly striking as, for 

Okri, regeneration of the human spirit is not a hope but a necessity. His social 

activism and his fictional endeavour are both directed at laying the ground for 

regeneration to happen across cultures. • 


Book review 

Zeppelins and hyacinths: Esther Freud’s 

novel ‘Mr Mac and Me’ 

• Neeman Sobhan 

Even as I write this review, I’m tempted to re-read Esther Freud’s 

shimmering, compelling eighth novel that refuses to be pigeonholed. 

War looms on its horizon, like “the belly of a Zeppelin ... a second 

moon,” yet it is not just a novel about war. Nature abounds, 

sensuously observed through the pristine eyes of the child narrator, who sees 

the sun as “just a slither of a yolk above the trees,” and intuits, observing an 

artist, that wild flowers can grow on the ground and on a painter’s canvas. Yet, 

this is neither just a coming-of-age story nor merely a fiction based on facts 

about a year in the life of a famous artist. It is all of this and more. 

As the gripping story unfolds, summer is not yet over on the Suffolk 

coastline, but the seaside village of Walberswick is shaken up by the outbreak 

of the First World War. Visitors evacuate in droves; regiments of soldiers 

arrive to be billeted locally till they cross into Belgium; local youths enlist, 

leaving the village to the women, the elderly and the children. Faced with the 

stringent security regulations of the Defence of the Realm Act, the locals grow 

paranoid over the possibility of any spies amongst them. 

The only “foreigner” 

remaining in the village, a 

loner with binoculars, comes 

under suspicion. This is “Mr 

Mac.” Unbeknownst to the 

locals, he’s the renowned 

and controversial Scottish 

architect and artist Charles 

Rennie Mackintosh, who 

designed the Glasgow School 

of Art, but feeling underappreciated 

he moved here 

with his artist wife. 

Only a sensitive young boy, 

Thomas Maggs, the crippled 

12-year-old son of the abusive 

village pub-keeper, longing 

for adventure follows the 

artist and trusts him, the two 

forming a mentor-protégé 

relationship of sorts. 

This is the beating heart of 

a lyrical story, told in the first 

person by Thomas, blending 

fact and fiction. To me, the factual, the oblique biography of Mackintosh in 

his declining years painting his famous botanical watercolours, interested me 

less than the fictional exploration of a war-torn English village in the 1900s. 

Esther Freud, the great-grand daughter of Sigmund Freud and daughter of 

Lucien Freud the painter, has with psychological insight and an artist’s eye for 

detail painted a novel of beauty and compassion. 

What fascinated me more than the world of artists and art, was the life of 

the artisans: The stories of the farmers, the fishermen, the rope-makers, the 

pig-raisers, the hired herring-gutting highland girls, all following their age-old 

trades, battling the crushing poverty, and the extra hardships brought on both 

by the war and the onslaught of industrialisation, with machinery replacing 

human labour. 

But no matter how dire the life led by young Thomas is, his experience 

of the external world of nature and events, and the internal one of complex 

relationships and emotions are described within short chapters in the most 

resonant prose. 

The impact is poetic but the language fits a boy’s perceptions and 

vocabulary, encompassing his sense of wonder and quiet wisdom: 

“I can hear the woodpigeons burbling, the sound as round as pebbles.” 

In a hencoop: “I duck into the dark stink of the shed … close my palm over 

the smooth, hot, newborn shells.” Extinguishing flames: “The fire hisses like 

a nest of snakes.” About his violent father, “ … wishing I hadn’t seen that look 

on Father’s face which means it’s a drinking day and there’s nothing I can do.” 

If I must cast a critical eye, there is just one area in which the book 

stumbles a bit. This is when some of the biographical material or history of the 

village is crowded into dialogues or monologues. A glaring example is when 

Mackintosh, normally laconic when explaining his art to the watchful Thomas, 

suddenly inundates him with his back-story and professional frustrations. In 

awkward chunks of dialogue, one hears the author’s voice dictating from a 

written script. 

Here is Mac recounting a conversation he had with his boss Keppie: 

“‘I’ve made places for poets,’ I told him, ‘and now I’m being reprimanded 

for misplacing toilet facilities.’ But Keppie came closer. He was pale. Business 

was failing off, he told me, the city was struggling, and his job was to please 

the client. ‘While mine,’ I shouted, I could feel the whole office listening at 

the door, ‘is to make them gasp and wonder.’ That was when he asked me to 

go … ’” 

This jarring literary device is used again with the rope-maker, George 

Allard, endlessly lecturing his apprentice Thomason about the history of 

Britain. With his captive audience rotating the wheel, Allard walks backwards 

into the woods releasing the strands of hemp wound around his waist, while 

reeling out facts and dates, obviously meant for the readers. 

Yet this art of making rope, when described by the narrator, sounds like 

visual melody. There is an especially sublime moment when Thomas is 

walking backwards into the countryside releasing the taut yarn, and he is 

greeted by a girl he knows. He wants to but cannot interrupt his work, and 

the realisation of his true feelings for her comes as he keeps walking away: 

“They have forgotten me already, I think, as they dip out of sight over the rise 

of the small hill, but just then Betty leans over and flicks at the rope and I feel 

ittravel, the touch of her finger, right down until it twangs against my gut.” 

This is writing that brings fiction alive. Thus, Thomas is more real to me 

than the real-life artist Mackintosh. Weaving and braiding strands of facts 

and fiction, and flicking the rope with her creative magic, Esther Freud sets 

vibrating in our guts an imagined world. I carry away a line uttered as dialogue 

by “Mr Mac,” but which was in a lecture Mackintosh delivered in Glasgow: 

“Art is the flower. Life is the green leaf.” • 

Neeman Sobhan 

is a poet, fiction 

writer and 

columnist. Her 

poetry collection, 

Calligraphy of 

Wet Leaves, was 

published by 

Bengal Lights 

Books in 2015. 

9 


ARTS & LETTERS

Bengali fiction 

Selina Hossain: 

Seeker of the new 

Pias Mazid is a 

young poet, fiction 

writer and essayist 

who writes in 

Bengali. 

Marzia Rahman is 

a fiction writer and 

translator. 

10 

• Pias Mazid 

(Translated by Marzia Rahman) 

A 

true artist is one who would go against all odds to appease his/ 

her creative soul. S/he keeps searching for new clusters of cloud 

and fresh rays of sunlight. In her literary voyage spanning more 

than four decades, Selina Hossain has been deftly doing just that, 

dedicating her life to the world of fiction. A versatile wordsmith working across 

genres -- short fiction, novels, children literature, prose writings and essays -- 

with the aim of sketching the lives of men and women who come mostly from 

the underprivileged groups. She has an oeuvre that encompasses everything 

-- sorrows and suffering of flood-affected people, the rebellious youth of the 

Language Movement, the freedom fighters during the Liberation War, people 

living in enclaves, people fighting with incurable diseases or people shattered 

by the devastating after-effects of the Sepoy Mutiny. 

Hossain’s journey started with short fiction. Her first book, a collection of 

short stories, Utsho theke Nirontor, came out in 1969. She was only 22 back 

then and yet had the courage to portray the true face of a conservative society. 

The book was much appreciated by renowned author-critic Humayun Azad 

who welcomed the fresh new voice of defiance to the world of literature. 

Utso Theke Nirontor was just the beginning and Hossain never looked back; 

she kept seeking out the real picture of society with numerous other works 

of short fiction such as Jolobotee Megher Batash (1975), Khol Korotal (1982), 

Porojonmo (1986), Manushti (1993), Onura Purnima (2008), Narir Rupkotha 

(2009), Obelar Dinkhon (2009), Mrityur Nilpadma (2015) and Nunpanter 

Goragori (2015). The diversity of her subject matter, cultural context and 

literary techniques varies from one novel or story to another. We are amazed 

to see that the writer who so candidly writes stories like Shukher Pithe Shukh 

could aptly deliver books on the revolutionary Che Guevara or poet Pablo 

Neruda as well. Not merely depicting a story, her work does more than that, 

creating a subtle connection between the readers and the stories that she 

creates. Even the simplest narrative becomes a fine specimen of art with her 

magical touch. And we proudly and gladly acknowledge that with writers like 

Hossain our short fiction is not a dying art; rather it has a promising and a 

fulfilling, bright future. 

Primarily a novelist, Hossain has already published over 30 novels. She has 

given this genre a new life, a new dimension. With diverse topics, varied style 

and the use of simple language, her novels have established her as one of the 

finest fiction writers in Bengali. On one hand she narrates the tale of Kalketu 

and Phullara while bringing forth the story of Pritilata, the fiery woman who 

was martyred during an armed battle against the British colonisers. Her novels 

encompass both past and present, interweaving them into fine stories. Often 

she makes use of materials from real life events and situations -- such as 

the horrific killing of Shomen Chandra at the hands of fascists, the killing of 

Munier Choudhury by the collaborators or the loss of her daughter Lara. Some 

of her well-known novels are Josnay Surjyo Jala (1973), Jalochchwas (1972), 

Hangor Nodi Grenade (1976), Magna Caitanye Shis (1979), Japita Jiban (1981), 

Podoshobdo (1982), Neel Moyurer Joubon (1983), Chand Bene (1984), Poka 

Makorer Ghor Bosoti (1986), Nirantar Ghantadhwani (1987), Ksharan (1988), 

Katatare Prajapati (1989), Khun O Bhalobasa (1990), Kalketu and Fullora 

(1992), Bhalobasa Pritilata (1992), Tanaparen (1994), Gaayatree Sondhya 

(1996), Dipanwita (1997), Juddho (1998) and Lara (2000). 

One of her finest works is Jomuna Nodir Mushyara (2011). In this novel, 

though the main subject is poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib Hossain 

acquaints readers with the mystery of many continents. The personal loss 

of poet Ghalib in the story represents loss and pain felt by generations of 

poets, writers and artists. One of her latest works, Gachhtir Chaya Nai (2012), 

captures the sad story of an incurable disease that brings people of different 

continents under the same circumstances. 

Hossain also writes essays. She has given nonfictional work focused 

on history a new dimension, not restricting it to dates and times, rather 

presenting the story with her unique style of writing. Nirbhoy Koro Hai, Mukto 

Koro Bhoi and Nijere Koro Joi are among her acclaimed nonfiction works. 

Her work touches both the native soil and the foreign land, trying to judge 

art by examining her own experiences. In her essays she has delved into the 

creative world of such eminent personalities as Abbas Uddin, Mohammad 

Mansuruddin, Syed Walliullah, Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas 

Llosa. Her comment on the Japanese author Osamu Dazai in her essay “Dajai 

Osamur Shilpo Bhubon” can easily be extended to powerful writers of all 

countries and all times. 

For Hossain, writing fiction for young readers is not simply an entertainment. 

Rather, she deems it a noble way to illuminate young readers with the world of 

Bengali literature. Her book Golpe Bornomala (1998) presents Bengali language 

and its vocabulary to the young minds in an interesting way. Her young adult 

fictions include Onnorokom Jawa, Akashpori, Jokhon Brishti Name, Golpota 

Shesh hoi na, Mihiruner Bondhura, Nil Tunir Bondhura, Kurkurir Mukhtijudho, 

Phulkoli Prodhanmontri Hobe and Noditir Ghum Bhengeche. In these novels, 

she has successfully introduced youngsters to the 1971 Liberation War and the 

plights of underprivileged children. 

In Noditir Ghum Bhengechhe she has engaged children in the magical story 

of a dead river turning alive. The story has a deep symbolic connotation: The 

young generation would bring forth new life from the very ruins of destruction. 

This is why Hossain narrates the stories of resurrection to the young readers. 

First and foremost a feminist, Selina Hossain has also placed underprivileged 

people and ethnic minorities at the centre of her works. She nurtures an allencompassing 

vision. Always the one to tell her stories in a subtle narrative, 

she never forgets to bring in the sweet chatters of a bird nesting in the branches 

of our life, and that’s exactly how her voice is young forever. • 


‘Bangladeshi literature is really outstanding’ 

Interview 

• Mohammad Marouf 

Annisul Hoque, one of Bangladesh’s celebrated fiction writers, speaks to 

Dhaka Tribune about Bengali literature and the Dhaka Lit Fest 2017 

You have been with the Dhaka Lit Fest since its inception. As it brings its 

seventh edition to town, what is your personal feeling? 

Every festival is a joyous occasion. People want to know about our country 

when I travel abroad. For limited scope, some people don’t know much about 

us. Bringing together poets, writers and artistes from different countries, the 

Dhaka Lit Fest provides an opportunity for them to learn about our country and 

literature. Similarly, we also have the opportunity to learn about the literature 

of many other nations. This is really a heartening aspect of the festival. 

We know that poets, writers and literary figures play an important role in 

resolving social or historical crises. Being a hub of literary doyens, do you 

think the DLF can play a role in addressing the growing number of crises and 

instability around the world? 

You have brought up an important issue. Historically and nationally, we 

have always relied on cultural movements. Our poets, writers and the overall 

cultural sector played a huge part in the Language Movement in 1952 and the 

Liberation War in 1971. We know that in our neighbouring country Myanmar a 

brutal massacre has been carried out on an ethnic minority group, for which we 

are providing shelter to around 600,000 Rohingya refugees in a small country 

like ours. Our government is working on the repatriation process and forming 

global opinion that will put pressure on Myanmar to stop the persecution of the 

Rohingyas. The Dhaka Lit Fest can also play a big role in resolving the Rohingya 

crisis by mobilising global opinion. The organisers of the lit fest as well as our 

poets and writers should discuss this issue with foreign guests and inform them 

of the scale of its atrocity and the role of our country. 

The DLF provides strong platforms for translation of 

Bengali literature into many different languages. How 

do you evaluate this? Do you think such an event may 

widen the horizon of Bengali literature on the world 

stage? 

Bangladeshi literature is really outstanding. Even if our 

literature doesn’t get translated, there is no reason to 

think that it has fallen behind. However, it is true that 

except Rabindranath, works of other writers have not 

been adequately translated. But I also believe that when 

fiction writers come up with quality works of fiction, 

nothing can stop them from getting international recognition. However, it 

will be wrong to think that publishing works in English naturally comes with 

increased quality and wide circulation; we should not decide to write in English 

based on such hollow assumptions. There is no doubt that when a reputed 

publishing house publishes our work in translation, it comes as a significant 

step. But for that to happen we have to write in Bengali. If the quality of writing 

is outstanding, it will definitely find skilled translators and make a distinct place 

in world literature on its own merit. 

Are there any aspects relating to the DLF that you’d like to comment on? 

I would like to talk about one aspect. We need to be watchful while taking 

care of our foreign guests -- from hotels to chauffeuring the guests to the 

programme and back to their rooms. At the same time, we also need to 

be watchful that the respect with which we treat our foreign guests is also 

shown in treating our local Bengali writers, poets and artistes. All writers 

present at the festival, whether foreign or local should be treated in the same 

manner. 

I do hope that the horizon of DLF as a literary hub continues to broaden in 

future. • 

‘Maybe it’s time we took a closer look at partition’ 

• Mohammad Marouf 

Shaheen Akhtar is a Bengali fiction writer based in Dhaka. Her magnum 

opus, Talash, is a groundbreaking work on the Liberation War in which the 

story is told from the points of view of women who were tortured and raped 

in captivity by the occupation army. Her other fictional works include Sakhi 

Rangamala and Mayur Singhashan. In this interview, she shares her thoughts 

about her upcoming novel and the DLF 2017. 

You are joining the Dhaka Lit Fest this year. Tell us something about the 

panel you are in? 

I am participating in the DLF for the fifth time this year. Earlier I read from 

my own works, or took part in panel discussions. But this time the discussion 

will be about ties between the two parts of Bengal. I guess it will look into 

the relationship between Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. It may focus 

on aspects of cultural exchange between the two parts of Bengal or aspects 

of identity following the partition of Bengal in 1947. I think this will be a 

challenging topic to discuss in a short span of time. The reason I’ll be speaking 

about this is because I’ve been working on these aspects over the last couple 

of years for a novel I’m writing. 

Would you share with readers what your new novel is about? 

My upcoming novel, which will come out in the Ekushey Boi Mela 2018, is set 

in the 1940s of the last century. That was the decade not only of a world war or 

the collapse of the British Empire, but also of communal riots with the whole 

of India and Bengal being divided based on religious identity. The decade 

was marked by unprecedented bloodshed and displacement. Hundreds of 

thousands of people had to migrate to a new country, leaving their ancestral 

homes overnight. Maybe it’s time we took a closer look 

at partition so that we can have a fuller understanding 

of its repercussions on our lives. 

Tell us something about your experience of the 

ambience at the DLF on the Bangla Academy grounds? 

With literary discussions, bookstalls, snacks corners 

and ceaseless adda, the DLF creates an international 

atmosphere at the Bangla Academy premises. Listening 

to foreign writers is always inspiring for me. Literary 

journals publish their interviews and discussions, and 

this makes the whole thing very exciting. However, 

unlike a film festival, it’s not easy to talk about your 

works in a literature festival. With the help of subtitles, 

two filmmakers from two different countries can learn about each other’s 

works, but people who write in their native languages feel at a loss sometimes 

as, for them, it all depends on whether their works have been translated or not. 

So, you think translation of Bengali fiction and poetry is immensely 

important? 

Yes, precisely. The prerequisite for literary exchange and expansion of our 

literature is translation of Bengali works of fiction and poetry into other 

languages. And those translations have to be published as well. University 

Press Limited has been doing it for a long time. The books wing of The Daily 

Star has also taken some good initiatives. The Dhaka Translation Center and 

Bengal Lights Books are now playing a key role in translating Bengali literature. 

If this trend continues, I am very optimistic that Bengali literature will find its 

deserved place in the international arena. • 

11 


ARTS & LETTERS

History 

William Dalrymple, the wayfarer 

• Shazia Omar 

Shazia Omar is 

a Bangladeshi 

fiction writer. Her 

second novel, 

Dark Diamond, 

was published by 

Bloomsbury India 

in 2016. 

12 

When asked which of William Dalrymple’s books has most 

influenced me, I have to pause to weigh them up. My 

introduction to the author of 11 best-sellers was not In Xanadu 

(written when William was 21) or City of Djinns, though many 

people say these travelogues inspired a wanderlust that came to define their 

lives. 

I first read White Mughals, the tragic love story of East India Company 

officer James Kirkpatrick, a British Resident at the court of the Nizam of 

Hyderabad in 1798, and Kahir un-Nissa -- the great-niece of the Nizam’s prime 

minister. With humour and empathy, William gives us the details to bring to 

life magnificent Mughal India. 

Next I devoured The Last Mughal which chronicles the siege of Delhi after 

which the British took the city and exiled Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last 

Mughal emperor. I had the opportunity to watch William and Vidya Shah 

present this history at the Dhaka Hay Lit Fest 2014 in a seamless blend of 

literature, poetry and music. Despite his busy schedule, William made time 

to support Bangladeshi writers at our lit fest and is coming again this year to 

do the same. 

I visited India once many years ago, my first trip with my father and sister 

after my mother died. We sat where Shah Jahan spent the last of his lonely 

days imprisoned, watching the glorious Taj in a diamond mirror; we prayed 

amidst the mystic fervour of Ajmer Sharif as we tried to piece ourselves back 

together. Reading William’s book took me back to those tender days. 

I enjoyed William’s documentary Sufi Soul: 

Mystic Music of Islam and loved the Qawali band he 

introduced at the Jaipur Lit Fest 2010. Incidentally, 

the JLF, William’s gift to writers, is the largest 

collection of lit lovers in the world, presenting an 

opportunity for writers and aspiring writers to join 

a growing community of support. 

These books, documentaries and experiences 

were very much a part of the adventure that resulted 

in my novel, Dark Diamond, my foray into the blood 

and gore that surrounds valuable diamonds in India. 

Shortly after, William’s book Kohinoor: The Story 

of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond came out. I 

saw William and Anita Anand present this book at 

JLF 2017 and what amazing storytellers they were, 

as captivating as ever, with sagas of loot, murder, 

torture, violence, deceit and colonial greed! 

I also saw William present his latest history book, 

Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, which 

tells the story of Britain’s invasion of Afghanistan. I 

was drawn in not only by William’s research skills -- 

he did “the Indiana Jones-kind of research, dodging 

bullets and getting rare manuscripts” -- but also by 

his enthusiasm which makes his writing and storytelling 

larger than life. 

“Journalism has the pleasure of instant 

gratification,” says William. “It is like a very nice Bengali sweet -- some mishti 

doi or some gulab jamun or something that you pop down and feel a delicious 

sugar rush hit you. It is instantaneous. A history book is more like a huge 

Mughlai feast with an enormous raan and Peshawari naans that will sustain 

you, and is a substantial thing, it takes a long time to prepare. History books 

are real hard work. They are exhausting to do and are no more fun than going 

to the dentist. But at the end of it, you do something you are proud of, and 

which will stay on the shelves, hopefully, forever.” 

This brings me to Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, a series 

of biographies that explore the rich religious heritage of the subcontinent. 

Of the biographies, one might think my favourite would be that of Lal Peri 

Mastani, the ecstatic red fairy who lives and dances at the shrine of Lal 

Shahbaz Qalander. I was happy to see William discuss the rising threat of 

Wahabism. “Arabisation of Islam” is all too pervasive in Bangladesh too and 

it would be good for us to have a few more writers 

speaking about it. 

My favourite story though, the one that had the 

greatest impact on me, was about Prasannamati 

Mataji. Drawn to the ascetic purity of Jainism, she 

plucks out each strand of hair, wears unstitched 

cotton saris and lives off charity alone but it is not 

until she watches her best friend and fellow nun 

starve herself to death that her faith is truly tested. 

She then decides to follow this route and starves 

herself too. What struck me was the fortitude with 

which she faces death. 

On July 2, 2016, Holey Bakery was attacked by 

terrorists. Holey had been a shrine for us. We went 

there for Thursday night dinner, Friday afternoon 

tea, Saturday morning brunch. It was our oasis in 

the urban jungle of Dhaka. When terrorists swarmed 

the place, we watched on television with tears in our 

eyes and prayers on our lips, feeling helpless. When 

we heard the next morning of the massacre, I felt 

all courage drain out of me. As it was, I was wearing 

around me a blanket of fear following the brutal 

killings of 23 people. For one month, I stayed home, 

a zombie. My friends encouraged me to be bold, to 

write and teach yoga and take my children out of 

the house, to defy the terrorists. I could not. I kept 

thinking of my young nephew who died on that bloody day, of the mere boys 

who perpetrated the crime, brainwashed into thinking that they were doing 

something noble. I began spiralling into depression. 

That was when I read Nine Lives. The story of the nun, who with courage 

and determination faced death, played like a mantra in my head and finally 

helped me find the strength to face the day. I am ever grateful to William 

for finding this nun and sharing her tale with all the pathos and pain which 

perhaps only he could do. His words have not only expanded my horizon but 

also inspired me and helped me in countless ways. • 


History 

Why the British empire was the 

darkest time in our history 

• Shuprova Tasneem 

For those of us who are familiar with the history of the British empire as well 

as post-Partition events, Shashi Tharoor’s book An Era of Darkness: The British 

Empire in India may seem like a rather basic read. Tharoor himself acknowledges 

the impossibility of condensing a book on colonial history within 300 pages, 

writing that the purpose of the book is not to provide a chronological history of 

events in the region, but rather to refute the claim that the British empire was, 

at the end of the day, a good thing. 

An important rebuttal to colonial nostalgia 

Whether it is the rise of British politicians who yearn for the good old days of 

Britain when it was truly great - Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s inappropriate 

recitation of Kipling (“the temple bells they say, Come you back, you English 

soldier”) during a recent visit to Myanmar comes to mind - or the yearning for 

a romanticised version of the Raj and the Victorian era in popular TV dramas 

like Indian Summers and Downton Abbey, the sad truth is that there has been a 

resurgence in colonial nostalgia in recent years. 

Which is why Tharoor’s book is not only welcome, but necessary in today’s 

world. Starting with a comprehensive overview of the looting of India and 

the destruction of its industries, the writer reminds us over and over again 

that British rule began with the pillaging of a land and its people by a giant 

corporation, and ended with a system of government that treated an entire 

continent as sub-humans and used a “divide and rule” policy to cling on to 

power for as long as possible. 

While there are certain bits of the book that seem to jump from one point 

to another too quickly, Shashi Tharoor’s arguments are foolproof. He uses 

extensive research and resources to demonstrate that whether it is the Indian 

Civil Service and legal system, or railways, tea and cricket, every aspect of 

British colonial rule that we now use as examples of a benign Empire were 

not only instruments to cement British 

rule, but were more often than not a 

lot more detrimental for locals than 

we now believe. His discussion on the 

Indian railway, and how much British 

shareholders actually profited from its 

creation, is particularly illuminating. 

Should the past stay in the past? 

The chapter on famines, forced labour and massacres perpetrated by the British 

will have you seething in anger but as many critics point out, all that happened 

a long time ago. Surely, the British are no longer culpable? 

Tharoor only handpicks a few examples from many to show how colonial 

rule continues to impact the modern world. One doesn’t have to look too far 

- the Penal Code of Bangladesh and its criminalisation of homosexuality and 

legalisation of marital rape, among other things, shows how Victorian values 

continue to influence us here, today. 

And as Tharoor points out, one of the worst parts of Empire was the total lack 

of self-respect it imposed on its subjects. For near on 200 years, the project of 

colonisation went hand in hand with the project of English superiority, and the 

colonisation of the mind is something that we are still struggling to fight today. 

To add insult to injury, colonial amnesia has already set in, and whether in 

Bangladesh or Britain, no schools have taken the initiative to teach this history 

in all its bloody details, something which to his credit, Labour leader Jeremy 

Corbyn has advocated for as the best way to dispel the misplaced nostalgia for 

Empire in modern day UK. 

Whether the British will ever own up to their reign of terror is subject to 

debate, but An Era of Darkness plays an important role in holding the Raj to 

account, and is an important read for anyone inflicted by any ill-conceived love 

for the good old days of empire. • 

The shadow world we barely know 

• Mir Arif 

With global arms trade reaching the highest point since the Cold War, it is gratifying 

to encounter an investigative writer, Andrew Feinstein, at the Dhaka Lit 

Fest this year. He lays bare a formidable account of the global arms trade and 

the corruption surrounding it in his book, The Shadow World: Inside the Global 

Arms Trade. He reveals to us a shadow world consisted of politicians, arms 

dealers and the military – a world full of myths and conspiracy theories that 

serve to hide them behind the violence and war they manufacture in the world. 

Long ago Aristophanes satirised this shadow world and revealed how the 

weapon-makers of ancient Athens were militant and pro-war. In a similar vein, 

Feinstein claims that this phenomenon has not changed much. The world’s 

biggest corporations such as Lockhead Martin, Merex and BAE Systems are 

now the makers of weapons; they need to sell their products competitively. 

The best time to do this is when weapons are consumed in armed conflict and 

insurgency. Sometimes the key salespeople are their own government. 

Virtually every country in the world is involved with the multi-billion dollars 

business of the international arms trade. In Africa, the less a government 

functions with its jurisdiction and border failing, the more arms dealers run 

amuck. Sometimes these deals can be barter for oil or diamonds or minerals 

like coltan and bauxite. Feinstein digs through the ties between the military 

and the industrial circles that create this multi-billion dollar industry, and 

most unfortunately, he points out, it continues to grow almost unhindered. 

From his experience as an ANC member of parliament 

in South Africa, Feinstein details how in 

the early days of democracy in South Africa, the 

country spent $6 billion on weapons while brushing 

aside the purchase of antiretroviral drugs for HIV 

patients. The money-making spree of the arms industry 

in the Iraq war that continues in Afghanistan 

and the Middle East has also been sufficiently dealt with. The share prices of 

manufactures like BAE system and Northrop Grumman reached a record level 

in 2009. The war is always propitious for the weapon manufacturers. 

Feinstein’s impressive book touches upon Margaret Thatcher’s ideology of 

a “fundamentalist free market.” He goes on to reveal the underhand dealings 

of a number of other politicians who have, for the most part, managed to appear 

neat and clean to the public. For Feinstein arms trading has little to do 

with the growth of a healthy economy. He shows how the alarming growth 

of the arms industry accounts for over 40% of corruption in all world trade. 

Despite living in the shadow world, Feinstein has a commitment to making 

the world a safer place for future generations. It resonates in the conclusion of 

his book: A basic commitment to universal human rights, equality and justice, 

to the belief that it is better to save a life by feeding a hungry stomach than to 

take a life by producing another deadly weapon, and that this trade, one of the 

most destructive and corrupt in human history, cannot be allowed to continue 

in its largely unregulated, unscrutinised current form. • 

13 


ARTS & LETTERS

Event 

The DSC jury to announce winner of 

the prize 

14 

• Sayeeda T Ahmad 

All eyes are on Dhaka Lit Fest in November as the festival is set to play 

host to the announcement of the DSC Prize 2017, the most coveted 

literary award for South Asian writing. This year’s international 

jury of the prestigious $25,000 award will disclose its winner at a 

special award ceremony during the three-day literary extravaganza on the 

grounds of Bangla Academy. 

“We are excited and honoured to be able to host the announcement 

of the winner of this year’s DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. As 

everyone knows, it is a prestigious international literary award that is 

specifically focused on South Asian writing. A muchrevered 

prize in the literary world, one has to 

only look at the list of the past winners to get 

an idea of its high standards. We will have 

most of the shortlisted authors as well as 

the judges of this year’s prize participate 

in our festival, which is a wonderful 

addition to our programme,” said Ahsan 

Akbar, one of the directors of the festival. 

“We welcome everyone to join the 

prize giving ceremony, which will be a 

special occasion and will be held on the final 

day of this year’s festival,” he added. 

The nominees are … 

This year, the five shortlisted novelists 

and their works vying for the prize are: 

Anjali Joseph: The Living 

Anuk Arudpragasam: The Story of a 

Brief Marriage 

Aravind Adiga: Selection Day 

Karan Mahajan: The Association of Small 

Bombs 

Stephen Alter: In the Jungles of the Night: A Novel 

about Jim Corbett 

The shortlisted writers are an assorted mix of young novelists as well 

as established writers who have made their mark on the South Asian 

literary landscape. Three of them are Indians -- Joseph, Adiga, and Mahajan 

-- with Joseph and Mahajan based outside South Asia; Arudpragasam is Sri 

Lankan, and Alter is an American based in India. 

Their novels are set in various geographical regions and topics: A shoe 

factory in England and a small town in Maharashtra; the Tamil-majority 

northern part of Sri Lanka during its civil war; a slum in Mumbai and a cricket 

field; the after-effect of a terrorist bomb in Delhi; and Jim Corbett’s life from a 

wildlife photographer in India to his final days in Kenya. But all of them have 

the South Asian region and its people as their central focus. 

Who’s on the jury? 

This year’s international jury panel includes Ritu Menon, jury chair and 

eminent feminist writer who has commented on a wide range of gender 

issues affecting the South Asian region; Valentine Cunningham, Professor 

Emeritus of English language and Literature at Oxford University, UK, who 

has authored several books on Victorian fiction and poetry; Steven Bernstein, 

celebrated screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer and lecturer based 

out of Los Angeles, USA; Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, respected journalist, radio 

and television broadcaster, based in London, who has written extensively on 

society, culture and feminism; and Senath Walter Perera, Senior Professor 

in English, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, whose research deals with 

diasporic and postcolonial literature of the region. 

The jury selected the best works of fiction on the South Asian region out 

of 60+ works submitted for the prize earlier this year. They announced a 

shortlist on September 27 in London from a longlist of 13 

talented writers. They had announced the longlist in 

August at Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi. 

The longlist featured three debut novels 

and two translated entries from Tamil and 

Malayalam respectively. It showcased writers 

from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Whether 

living in or outside the South Asian region, 

all of them deftly explore South Asian lives, 

identities and cultures. 

Aside from the shortlisted ones, the 

longlist included Anosh Irani’s The Parcel; Ashok 

Ferrey’s The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons; Hirsh 

Sawhney’s South Haven; KR Meera’s The Poison of 

Love (Translated by Ministhy S); Omar Shahid 

Hamid’s The Party Worker; Perumal Murugan’s 

Pyre (Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan); 

Sarvat Hasin’s This Wide Night; and Shahbano 

Bilgrami’s Those Children. 

At the unveiling of the longlist, Jury Chair 

Ritu Menon was quoted as saying: “Speaking 

for myself, it was also a great pleasure to read 

this year’s submissions, remarkable for their 

range, energy and generational sweep. As a jury, 

we were struck by several exceptional qualities in the 

novels selected: Their inventiveness and creativity, 

both of subject matter and in literary treatment. 

We admired the maturity and humanity of the 

perspective they brought to bear on their characters, 

and the delicacy of their observations on difficult or 

troubled situations. We were beguiled by their wit 

and humour, as well as impressed by the versatility 

of their skill when dealing with history. And we were 

reminded that, although the writers’ preoccupations may 

be universal and their sensibility cosmopolitan, their voices 

are distinctly South Asian.” 

What is the DSC Prize? 

The DSC award is described as a celebration of the rich and varied world of 

literature of South Asia. It has an openness that is rarely seen in the submission 

guidelines of many other major literary awards. Ethnicity or nationality is not 

a barrier for a writer to be eligible for submitting his/her works. Any writer 

from any corner of the world can submit his/her work of fiction as long as it 

explores the South Asian region in terms of content and theme. 

The prize was established in 2010 by founder Surina Narula with the aim of 

bringing South Asian writing to a new global audience through a celebration 

of the achievements of South Asian writers and raising awareness of South 

Asian culture around the world. 

Previous winners of the award include HM Naqvi, Shehan Karunatilaka, 

Jeet Thayil, Cyrus Mistry and Jhumpa Lahiri. • 

(In preparing this article, information collected from the official DSC website has 

been made use of ) 


DLF highlights 

Top 10 things to do at DLF 2017 

• Ahsan Akbar 

5. Book signing and quick chat: A very pleasant 

1. For the love of poetry: The world stops when 

a poet recites. And you should too. Hear Adonis 

recite some of his great works of poetry, and 

even if you don’t understand the words, try 

to appreciate the musicality of his verse, and 

in the use of language. Adonis is the greatest 

living poet in Arabic and he insists on not 

having screens with translations for precisely 

that reason. Catch rare appearances by our very 

own stars too: Helal Hafiz, Nirmalendu Goon, 

Kaiser Haq, Asad Chowdhury and many others. 

moment for a writer is when a reader has 

requested to sign a copy of their book. It is 

a win-win situation: The writer is happily 

signing, and it is a perfect moment to ask 

them a question or give a compliment. Of 

course, the signed copy then becomes a prizedpossession 

on your shelves, which someday 

could and should turn into your family library. 

Alternatively, if you want to make someone feel 

special, gift him or a signed copy made out to 

him or her. 

Catch performance poetry and original voices 

flying thousands of miles to recite their works. 

Catch Jerry Pinto, Sophia Walker, André Naffis- 

Sahely, Bigoa Chuol. And there’s Nabaneeta 

Dev Sen. I rest my case. 

6. Team DLF office: Come say hello. Meet 

the team behind the operation – it’s not just 

the three directors you see, it’s a full team of 

talented individuals who are extremely crucial 

to the success of the festival. Maybe you have 

2. Challenge yourself I: You of course know 

which genre, which speakers and which 

sessions interest you, and poetry may not be 

your thing. But dashing in and out of sessions 

won’t get you a real flavour; instead challenge 

yourself to stay put till the end of a session and 

maybe you’ll end up appreciating something 

you thought was not your cup of tea. If you 

a suggestion for us, a fantastic idea that could 

be implemented next year, maybe you want 

to join us or maybe you just want to say thank 

you – whatever it is, we would appreciate it 

in writing. You can support us in many ways 

and one cool way would be to buy a few items 

from the DLF merchandise, which would be 

available at the DLF Office on site. 

carry a notebook (and a pen), you’ll find 

yourself scribbling notes or writing down a line 

that grabbed you, a word you need to “google” 

or a sketch you wish to doodle. Trust me, it’s all 

very useful, and you’ll thank me one day. 

7. Making movies: As well as plays, Sir David 

Hare writes screenplays and you have probably 

seen them: The Hours, The Reader, Denial and 

many more. Esther Freud’s first novel was 

turned into a blockbuster hit: Hideous Kinky. 

3. Challenge yourself II: There’s another way 

of challenging yourself. Catch a session that 

features Lionel Shriver, Lawrence Osborne, 

Ben Okri wrote the script for a mesmerising film 

on the life of musician Raymond Borremans. 

The relationship between the written word 

Garga Chatterjee, Roderick Matthews or 

and the screen has never been closer. Read 

Sudeep Chakravarti whose book I’m eagerly 

looking forward to reading, simply titled The 

Bengalis. You may not agree with everything 

they say but it will do two things to you. First, 

you’ll wake up hearing some original ideas, and 

second, it’ll make you think, ponder and read, 

all of which can only mean good things. 

the book first, though, and make your movie 

in your head, and do it right inside the festival 

premises! A moment of quiet contemplation by 

the pond, under one of the big trees to read, 

imagine and dream might be the much-needed 

antidote to break away from the festival frenzy, 

even if for a few minutes. 

4. Aim, focus, shoot: Take a selfie, take lots of pictures and win a prize too. Take a selfie with a writer 

you enjoyed reading or would want to read after hearing him/her speak at the festival, but ask for 

permission. Not everyone likes to be selfied but most would be happy to be photographed with you 

and your friends. When taking photos, please refrain from using flash inside the auditoriums but please 

do tag us (#dhakalitfest) and if we like your capture(s), we will reward you with multiple and attractive 

prizes. We will be checking every picture uploaded on social media with the hash-tag during and after 

the festival. So click away and Tweet us, Facebook us, Instagram us. We would love it as much as you! 

8. Alt-stuff: The spiritual songs 

early in the day will set you in the 

mood, while you sip some gorom 

cha or down a double-shot espresso, 

and start marking all the sessions 

you want to catch. Plan your day. 

Maybe you are curious about all the 

alternative panels DLF has to offer: 

Nicole Farhi on the world of fashion, 

Andrew Feinstein on the global arms 

trade, Sandro Kopp on the portraits 

he sketches and the story they tell, 

Tamanna-E-Lutfi on being one of the 

two female pilots in South Asia to 

first fly the Bell-206 helicopter. 

9. William Dalrymple on the Koh-i- 

Noor: You must know this by now, 

that Dalrymple is one of the most 

brilliant speakers on history you 

will find on stage today. Together 

with his impassioned delivery, he 

knows exactly how much to share 

and when, a master in the art of 

holding an audience captive, all on 

tenterhooks for the next slide or 

story. On a side note, don’t miss an 

exhibition on site of his black & white 

photography, which is beautiful. 

And if you get a chance, maybe ask 

him how he knows Tilda Swinton 

from his childhood? 

10. Tilda Swinton! Tilda Swinton in 

Dhaka: Last but not least, you don’t 

want to miss the Oscar-winning, 

multi-faceted, supremely gifted 

actor and artist, the White Witch, 

the Ancient One, etc. Not only 

Tilda will be in conversation with 

me, discussing Performance as 

Authorship, she will also read from 

the works of late John Berger to 

introduce the documentarythat she 

made on the man, and for which we 

obtained the rights to screen at the 

festival. It’s free and all for you! 

Ahsan Akbar is a 

Director of Dhaka 

Lit Fest. All views 

expressed in this 

piece are strictly 

his own. 

15 


ARTS & LETTERS

Adonis 

The poet as mythopoeic hero 

• Kaiser Haq 

Kaiser Haq 

is a renowned 

poet, essayist, 

and translator. 

Enlarged editions 

of his books of 

poetry, Pariah and 

Other Poems, and 

Published in the 

Streets of Dhaka, 

will be released 

at Dhaka List 

Fest where he is a 

speaker this year. 

16 

‘I want to go to school’ 

The story has been told many times, by the poet himself and by his many 

commentators. It will no doubt be retold innumerable times, and each time it 

will sound fresh to the ear, as legends, myths and fairy tales always do. 

A boy is born in western Syria in 1930, in a small farming village called 

Qassabin that does not even have a school, not to mention electricity or the 

telephone. He grows up with the unassuming name of Ali Ahmad Said Esber, 

reads the Koran at the local Maktab, and memorises classical Arabic poetry, 

of which his father is an aficionado. And in time poetry comes to him “as 

naturally as the leaves to a tree”; Keats’s phrase is apropos in his case, 

In 1943, Syria becomes an independent republic; and its first president, 

Shukri al-Quwatli, on a tour of the country, stops at a town near Qassabin. Ali 

Ahmad composes a poem celebrating the visit and the country’s independence 

and plans to recite it before the president. He mentally rehearses the scene: 

he presents himself before the visiting dignitary and recites the poem; the 

president likes it and offers him a boon. He says simply, “I want to go to 

school,” and his wish is granted. 

And that precisely is what comes to pass. In this fairy tale manner the boy’s life 

undergoes a sea change. He is admitted into the country’s best school, the French 

lycée at Tartus, and when it closes down in 1944 he transfers to a government 

school. He next wins a government scholarship to study at Damascus University 

from where he graduates in 1954 with a degree in Philosophy. 

Poetic identity as mythopoesis 

He does not let schooling inhibit his poetic flow, but newspaper editors reject 

the poems he submits. He is frustrated. He comes upon the mythological 

story of Adonis, the handsome young hunter who is killed by a boar. Shelley 

had turned it into a mythopoeic representation of the Romantic poet Keats 

“butchered” by critics. Ali Ahmad too sees himself as Adonis and the newspaper 

editors as boars that try to destroy him. He submits his poems again, this time 

signing himself as Adonis. And he is accepted: the establishment of his poetic 

identity is, literally, an act of mythopoesis. 

Politics, prison, exile 

As a school student Ali Ahmad -- no, Adonis -- joins the Syrian National 

Socialist Party: Not to confused with Hitler’s party; it is a secular democratic 

party and is targeted by the repressive Syrian regime. When he is doing his 

mandatory military service in 1955-56, he is imprisoned because of his 

political affiliation with an opposition party. On his release he and his recently 

wedded wife, Khalida Said, a literary critic, cross over into Lebanon and settle 

in Beirut, where they devote themselves full-time to literary activities. The 

first of Adonis’s 20 plus poetry collections appears in 1957; soon he becomes 

the leading innovator in Arabic poetry, exploiting the resources of rose poetry 

to extend the thematic and emotional reach of poetry; he studies in France 

for a year on a scholarship, and starts translating French poets like Yves 

Bonnefoy, St-Jean Perse and Henri Michaux. He is associated with influential 

Arabic literary journals, co-translates Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” Ezra Pound, 

Phillip Larkin and Robert Lowell; edits a multi-volume anthology of Arabic 

prose; completes a PhD in Arabic literature at St Joseph University, Beirut, 

and teaches Arabic literature at Lebanese universities, as he does later at 

universities in France and the USA. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 

1982 he decides to move again, and in 1985 settles in Paris, where he has lived 

with his wife and two daughters ever since. Many prizes are showered on him, 

and for years he is a bookies’ favourite for the Nobel. 

A committed poet 

The reader may well ask: What is a committed poet? To the functionary of 

To me Adonis is a committed poet by virtue 

of his commitment to a comprehensive vision 

-- a vision that champions critical thought 

which is articulated in poetic language as well 

as essayistic writings 

an authoritarian, state a committed poet is one who sings the praises of its 

leaders and the official ideology. To me Adonis is a committed poet by virtue 

of his commitment to a comprehensive vision -- a vision that champions 

critical thought which is articulated in poetic language as well as essayistic 

writings. His immediate life experience encompasses awareness of the Nakba, 

the expulsion of Palestinians by Zionist settlers; the Arab debacle of 1967; and 

the turmoil in Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion; and more recently, 

the troubles throughout the Arab world. 


Tilda Swinton 

The shock of the Arab defeat in 1967 elicits an extended poetic meditation 

in “This is my name,” a poem that seems to present history as a perpetual 

apocalypse: 

Come closer, wretched of the earth, cover this age with your rags and tears, 

cover it with a body seeking its own warmth The city is arcs of madness 

I saw revolution bearing its own children I buried millions of songs and I came 

(Are you in my grave?) Let me touch your hands: Follow me 

My time has yet to come, but the graveyard of the world is already here I bear 

ashes for the sultans Give me your hands Follow me 

(“This is my name”) 

Likewise, in The Book of Siege, Adonis’s poetic response to the Lebanese civil 

war and the Israeli invasion, the apocalyptic, the lyrical and sustained prose 

meditation combine to offer a vast vista of our desolate world: 

The cities dissolve, and the earth is a cart loaded with dust. 

Only poetry knows how to pair itself to this space. 

(“Desert”) 

And you, are you getting bored, dear reader, from this ancient one striking into 

the depth of history? But don’t you too see how poetry can spring out of what 

we imagine to be poetry’s contrary? And don’t you also see that what we call 

reality is nothing but skin that crumbles as soon as you touch it and begins to 

reveal what hides under it: That other buried reality where the human being is 

the poetry of the universe. 

(“Candlelight”) 

Poetry = thought 

Adonis considers thought to be an integral part of poetry. “Poetry is thought, 

and great thought is also poetry,” he tells an interviewer (World Literature 

Today). In a filmed interview on Louisiana Channel, available on Youtube, 

Adonis explains that with the coming of Islam, thought became the special 

preserve of religion and theologians, and poets restricted themselves to 

the expression of personal feelings. One could put it in Eliotesque terms by 

saying that a dissociation of sensibility had set in. Adonis resorts to Sufism 

to reintegrate thought and poetry, and in a daring cross-cultural leap equates 

Sufism and Surrealism. He has published over a dozen books of criticism, none 

of which have been translated into English. I think it would be an immensely 

enriching task to translate Adonis’s prose alongside his poetry; it would allow 

Anglophone readers to experience his poetry together with the discursive 

presentation of his thought. 

Adonis has not by any means isolated himself from current crises; far from 

it. And his acerbic comments on recent events deserve to be mentioned. 

Talking to Maya Jaggi (The Guardian), he says that though he welcomed the 

Arab Spring, he had misgivings as well, for “it’s the Islamists and merchants 

and Americans who have picked the fruits of this revolutionary moment.” 

Further: “If we don’t separate religion from the state, and free women from 

Sharia law, we’ll have more despots. Military dictatorship controls your mind. 

But religious dictatorship controls your mind and body.” Regarding Western 

double standards: “If westerners really want to defend Arab human rights, 

they have to start by defending the rights of Palestinians.” At a talk in Paris 

he held up a photograph as evidence and said: “American soldiers pissed on 

Iraqi corpses. So these are the people they want to call in to liberate Arabs, 

and piss on the living?” What then is the state of Arab civilisation? “What is 

civilisation? It’s the creation of something new, like a painting. A people that 

no longer creates becomes a consumer of the products of others. That’s what I 

mean by the Arabs being finished -- not as a people, but as a creative presence.” 

But Adonis’s creativity remains vital as ever. Lately, he has ventured into 

the visual media, combining Arabic calligraphy and collage or Rakima (in 

Arabic), and has exhibited in Paris. Let a great prose writer, Sir Vidia Naipaul, 

have the last word in this brief introduction to a great poet: “His vision is 

extraordinary. His poetry sublime … He is for me a master of our times.” • 

Somewhere in 

Paris… 

• Ahsan Akbar 

Tilda Swinton is coming to Bangladesh, for the first time in her life, to 

attend the Dhaka Lit Fest. 

We first discussed the idea somewhere in Paris, when we randomly 

bumped into one another, or rather Tilda – in some way – came looking 

for me, but that’s a story for another time. 

We became friends pretty quick, now that I look back – yes, one of 

those connections you either instantly feel or you can spend a lifetime 

cultivating and get nowhere. I suppose it was easy, because Tilda 

makes you feel at ease, she makes YOU feel special. And I recall the 

moment when we shared our passion for – one might hazard a guess: 

movies, which would be rather obvious but no – writing, for books, 

for poetry. She said she doesn’t even consider herself an actor, as a 

Hollywood A-list, a celebrity. In her words, she is an artist who wants 

to explore any form of expression and check this out: She would rather 

be a writer, writing prose and poetry. 

We took a picture when we first met, which – no prizes for guessing 

- I requested. Sandro Kopp, a brilliant artist, who is her partner and 

I’m excited to say he will also be participating in the festival, help us 

took that picture. I remember why I requested the photo opportunity: 

It was because I wanted to treasure the moment. I sent it to Tilda, and 

she wrote back requesting a copy of my book (of poems). But I also 

remember why I never shared it on any of my social media platforms. 

Somehow I knew this was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, and 

not just friendship, but we’d be working together on projects that are 

heartfelt, and as a result, energetic and about changing paradigms that 

don’t work anymore, e.g., school education. 

Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands… 

Everyone in her village knows and loves her. No one is stalking her, 

which I couldn’t say about London or New York, or about most big 

cities around the world. What else can I tell you that are not on her 

bio? She has four lovely Labradors and they are really friendly, a sign 

of their happy existence, and as if that wasn’t enough, they wait by her 

front window and greet her with tremendous enthusiasm and force 

that would put Usain Bolt out of business. She also has well fed hens 

that lay eggs that have unique shells – a lighter shade of blue and they 

taste just magical. Her house is full of two things, really. Books and 

paintings. 

Last year the New York Times asked her to name 10 favourite 

books. We shared the link of DLF’s Facebook page, and if you haven’t 

had a chance to see it, I suggest you do. Its not only eclectic, its rich 

in literary taste: from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish to essays by 

Michel de Montaigne. 

Somewhere in the megacity of Dhaka… 

This is the part where you – as part of our audience at DLF this year – 

will help me write. Until then, and #seeyouthere! 

(All references to Adonis’s poems are from Khaled Mattawa’s translations.) 

17 


ARTS & LETTERS

Profiles 

Bengali fiction in focus 

• Arts & Letters Desk 

18 

Every year Bengali fiction occupies a special place for two reasons. 

First, to debate over some heated topic of literary importance, and 

secondly, to welcome the new English translations of Bengali novels 

and short story collections. This year is no exception: A host of 

Bangladeshi fiction writers writing in Bengali will interact with readers and 

respond to their questions about writing. Here’s a brief look at a few of them. 

Shaheen Akhtar is one of the most well-known 

names in Bangladesh. She is the author of 

six short story collections and four novels. 

In 2004, her novel Talaash won the Best 

Book of the Year award from Prothom Alo, 

Bangladesh’s most widely-read newspaper. 

The English translation of the novel was 

published by Zubaan Books, India in 2011. 

Her other novels include Shakhi Rangamala 

and Mayur Singhashan. Akhtar was presented 

with the Sera Bengali 2014 award by India’s leading 

Bengali news channel, ABP Ananda. She won the Bangla 

Academy Award in 2016. 

Anwara Syed Haq is a reputed fiction writer. She 

has written at least 30 novels, 25 children’s 

books, many short story collections and 

travelogues. A distinguished psychiatrist 

by profession, her novels are often set in 

Dhaka and London, and they focus on the 

social and psychological complexities of 

the middle class in fine detail. She won the 

Bangla Academy award, Annanya Shahitya 

Puroshkar, Shishu Academy Purushkar etc. She 

is the wife of renowned author Syed Shamsul Haq 

who died last year. 

Nasrin Jahan made her presence felt in the literary 

scene with her award-winning novel Urukku 

in 1993, an English translation of which 

(The Woman who Flew) was published by 

Penguin India. She has distinguished herself 

with her poetic prose and psychological 

approach to human behaviour. Women’s 

issues are deftly handled in her fiction. She 

has written over 35 novels and 10 collections 

of short story. She won the Philips Literary 

Award in 1994, Alaol Literary Award in 1995, 

Bangla Academy Award in 1999 and Anondo Alo 

Shahityo Puroshkar in 2010. 

Selina Hussain is one of the most popular 

fiction writers in Bangladesh. Her works 

have been translated extensively in many 

languages. Her work focuses on the history 

of Bangladesh, feminist issues and the 

plights of the lower class people. She won 

the SAARC Literary Award in 2015 for her 

contribution to South Asian literature. She is 

currently the Chairman of Bangladesh Shishu 

Academy. 

Imdadul Haq Milon is one of Bangladesh’s most 

widely read fiction writers. He has written 

novels, short stories, plays and essays. His 

work deals both with the struggles of rural 

people and the complexities of the chaotic 

city life. He has made extensive use of 

different dialects in his fiction. He has so far 

written over 200 books of novel and short 

stories and over 100 television plays. Some 

of his well-known works are Mati O Manusher 

Upakhyan, Odhibash, Paradhinota, Jibonpur, Kalo 

Ghora and Nurjahan. He won the Bangla Academy Award 

in 1992 and Chittaranjan Das Sharna Padak for his immense 

contribution to literature. 

Anisul Hoque is a renowned screenwriter, 

novelist, playwright and journalist. His works 

revolve around the theme of Liberation War, 

patriotism, and issues of rural and city 

people. Ma, one of his most notable novels, 

is based on the Liberation War. An English 

translation of the novel (Freedom’s Mother 

) was published by Palimpsest from New 

Delhi in 2012. It has been translated to Maithili 

and Spanish language as well. Hoque won the 

Citi Bank Ananda Alo award for Best Novel in 2009, 

Euro Shishu Shahitya Award in 2006 and the Bangla Academy 

Award in 2011. Currently he is working as an Associate Editor 

of Prothom Alo, a leading Bengali language daily. 

Parvez Hossain mainly writes short fiction. He 

has published five volumes of short stories. 

Some of his most notable works include 

Dubochar, Bishkata, Khayito Raktaputul 

and Haran. His essay Ekattorer Ghatok 

Dalalder Otit O Bartaman has gained wide 

acclaim. He received the Gemcon Literary 

Award in 2011 for his short story collection, 

Je jibon Phoringer Doyeler. His Dubochor was 

named Book of the Year by Prothom Alo in 2013. 

Hamim Kamrul Haque is a novelist. He studied 

Bengali literature in Jahangirnagar University, 

Dhaka. In 2007 he won the Ajker Kagoj 

Tarun Katahshahittaya Puraskar for the 

manuscript of his novel Rattree Akhana 

Joubane (The Night is Still Young) which 

was published in 2008. He has published 

several short stories, essays and four novels. 

His second novel, Gapaniyoter Malikana (The 

Ownership of Secrecy), was published in 2010. 

His first collection of short stories was published in 

2013. His second collection of short stories, Akkharapurusa 

O Annannaya Galpa (The Writer and Other stories), was 

published this year. • 


Writers of South 

Asian lives 

• Mir Arif 

An international jury panel consisting of eminent writers and scholars will 

announce the winner of the DSC Prize 2017 at the DLF this year. The DSC 

Prize shortlist reveals its original promise: The award is open to authors of 

any ethnicity or nationality as long as the writing is about South Asia and 

its people. The shortlist includes a varied set of both established and young 

novelists. Here’s a brief look at their works. 

Aravind Adiga 

Aravind Adiga will steal the spotlight of this year’s DLF 

in many ways. His newest fiction, Selection Day, is in the 

shortlist of the most coveted DSC Prize. With a poignant 

tale of India’s worsening class inequality in The White 

Tiger, Adiga won the 2008 Man Booker Prize for fiction. 

In Selection Day, Adiga again captures the voice of the 

underclass migrating from villages to cities. The book 

reveals another facet of Adiga’s remarkable talent in 

fiction. 

Anjali Joseph 

Anjali Joseph’s ability to create evocative images in 

fiction is exceptionally brilliant. She often takes us on 

a journey that is not always replete with chaotic lives 

but that is imbued with the ever-changing weather of 

the subcontinent and its humid beauty. In her debut 

novel, Saraswati Park, she writes about the middle-class 

experiences of Bombay. In her book, The Living, which is 

shortlisted for the DSC Prize this year, she captures the 

DSC Prize 2017 

beauty of ordinary and everyday life. It’s a story of two lives woven through 

an engaging narrative. 

Karan Mahajan 

With a blend of humour, compassion and boldness, 

Karan Mahajan’s voice reverberates deeper into his 

readers. In his debut novel, Family Planning, he narrates 

the life of an Indian politician named Rakesh. His 

humorous account deals with desire, corruption, noise 

and pollution. His latest novel, The Association of Small 

Bombs, brings out perspectives of bomb-attack victims 

as well as its perpetrators in the Delhi of 1996. Mahajan’s 

work is a sprawling account of humanity, struggling its 

way out amid fanatic strikes of terrorism. Small Bombs is shortlisted for this 

year’s DSC Prize. 

Anuk Arudapragasam 

Anuk Arudapragasam embarked on the literary scene with his debut novel, 

The Story of a Brief Marriage. The story recounts events from a single day 

and night of Dinesh, one of thousands of refugees fleeing towards the coast, 

during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The book has a movingly 

vivid narrative. Shortlisted for the DSC Prize 2017, it was named one of the 

best books of 2016 by the Wall Street Journal. 

Stephen Alter 

Author of 18 books of fiction and non-fiction, Stephen Alter is a big name in 

the literary world. His fiction, In the Jungles of the Night: A novel about Jim 

Corbett, published by Aleph in 2016, is shortlisted for the DSC Prize 2017. It 

narrates the life of Jim Corbett, the famous hunter and naturalist who was also 

one of the first wildlife photographers to capture images of large predators in 

their natural habitat. Alter won the 2016 Kekoo Naoroji Award for Himalayan 

Literature for his non-fiction, Becoming a Mountain: Himalayan Journeys in 

Search of the Sacred and the Sublime. • 

Aamer Hussein: A poet of fiction 

A review of ‘Love and its Seasons’ 

• Neeman Sobhan 

Aamer Hussein’s recent book, Love and its Seasons, is a slim, luminous collection 

of almost iridescent stories. Apart from its literary beauty, it is also a 

visual treat: Each deceptively simple, yet finely wrought, fragile tale is augmented 

by a photo, giving the reader a sense of flipping through a personal 

journal with butterfly wings and dried flowers pressed between the pages. 

The stories themselves, touching on the many faces of love and friendship, 

or loneliness and regret, are recalled with emotional restraint in his clean, uncluttered 

prose, as if by an ascetic of language. Yet they are ever tinged with 

the magic of fairytales and the mysticism of legends and folklore. 

But the most resonant part of this collection is the leitmotif of music running 

through most of the stories. I always feel that Aamer the poet has always 

been present in his stories, pouring that dimension of poetry which is linked 

to music, into the crafting of his tales. 

Not surprisingly, his short stories, even when simply narrated, are not just 

prose-poems in their effect, but one can hear in the spare purity of his storytelling, 

the clarity of pure musical notes, the pauses and gaps of silence, and 

the rhythms and cadences of carefully articulated phrases. 

Among the eight stories in this anthology, where music appears in some 

form, my favourite is the “Lady of the lotus,” which to me is a metaphor for 

the whole book. It’s told through the cryptic entries in his mother’s songbook, 

a diary with “a sketch or a poem printed on each page,” in which she used to 

“write the words of the classical songs she is learning. Her handwriting in- 

DHAKA TRIBUNE | THURSDAY, november 9, 2017 ARTS & LETTERS 

tertwined with the printed words and pictures on the 

page.” Aamer’s terse, perfectly pitched fiction is intertwined 

with images and the remembered or existing 

music in his life and in the lives of his characters (who 

may or may not be extensions of himself). 

In “Lake” a lute becomes a symbol for human connection; 

in the “Swan’s wife” the swan’s cry is the most 

poignant and fearful of music; in “Name” Majnoon 

chants his beloved’s name to reach mystical union; in 

“The Hermitage” a monk is reprimanded for singing hymns too well, “as if 

the Singer, not the Song, was of primary importance”; in “The man who stood 

still,” a delightfully enigmatic, Borges-like story, the magical power of music 

is hinted at; and skipping over “3 tales from Rumi” (a work of translation that 

seems to be here as the three–tier structure of a classical Indian raga, set in the 

season of love), we arrive at the title story. In this tale about love and loss, the 

protagonist, Umair, loves listening to music, and often performs French songs 

at recitals. I could hear the strains of “Autumn Leaves” and the Italian singer 

Mina crooning through the pages. 

In this collection, the aural, the visual, the verbal -- all collude to form an 

experience that is not just a reading, but a form of listening. As if we were an 

audience from a long-gone era, sitting before an oral storyteller with a lute. A 

narrator of timeless tales in modern, musical context, Aamer Hussein shows 

us how fiction is neither about the song nor the singer but about the divine act 

of singing. • 

Neeman Sobhan 

is a poet, fiction 

writer and 

columnist. 

. 

19

Persecution of the Rohingyas 

Azeem Ibrahim’s book is even 

more relevant today 


The plight of the Rohingya refugees and the horrors they are suffering at the 

hands of Myanmar’s military regime has dominated headlines due to recent 

events, and almost overnight, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 

leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has gone from being a 

hero on the international stage to a silent observer of genocide. 

Azeem Ibrahim’s book, The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide, 

first published in June 2016, will tell you this state of events was a long time 

coming. 

Why the Rohingya? 

Ibrahim’s book starts off with a concise and easily accessible history 

of the region, stressing on the important role the Buddhist identity 

plays in nation-building in Myanmar, to the point that it is now 

almost impossible to separate Buddhism from Myanmar’s national 

identity. 

While there are many ethnic groups in Myanmar, the Rohingya 

seem to have been singled out from the 1960s for a number of 

reasons -- their historical relationship with the colonial powers, 

the relative poverty of Arakan (now Rakhine) state, their lack of 

any armed resistance and the local political dynamics that have 

strengthened ethnic Rakhine political parties and created an “us or 

them” mentality. 

In the book, Ibrahim sets out to make clear that the treatment of the 

Rohingya population by Myanmar -- forced migration, internment in 

refugee camps within Myanmar, cancellation of their citizenship, restrictions 

on marriage and procreation, exclusion from basic services like education and 

healthcare and their complete exclusion from social and civil life -- are all not 

only violations of human rights but preconditions of genocide. 

While he emphasises that the historical location of an ethnic group cannot 

have any bearings on their current citizenship, he goes into great detail to 

explain how the Rohingya have 

historically been part of the region 

that is now Myanmar. This part can 

be repetitive at times but it is easy to 

see why it is necessary -- even today, 

Myanmar’s authorities and a majority of the Burmese population deny the 

persecution of Rohingyas and claim they are Bangladeshi migrants instead. 

The preconditions of genocide 

While a large section of the book puts forward evidence to show readers 

that the preconditions of genocide are currently in place in Myanmar, the 

remainder of it gives very interesting insight into the political events that have 

led to this status quo in the country. 

On the international platform, especially when viewed through the lenses 

of Western media, the NLD has brought great changes, and the recent elections 

was a triumph of democracy. However, Ibrahim challenges this conception 

with an overview of the party’s ties with the military elite, as well as their 

dependence on extremist monks to gain popular support. 

He also briefly dwells on other factors that affect the Rohingya refugees 

and their exodus -- the proliferation of extreme Buddhist ideologies in public 

life, the military’s need to create conflict to sustain their role of power, slavery 

in the Thai fishing industry and its dependence on refugees for forced labour, 

a US-China power struggle using Myanmar as the battle ground and more. 

What is disturbing about this book is how accurately it describes this year’s 

refugee crisis. The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide makes many 

references to the 2015 massacre of the Rohingyas, which did not capture the 

international media’s imagination in the same way as this year’s atrocities 

did. However, the conditions that led to the unrest and the resultant exodus 

is eerily similar. 

Throughout the book, what is clear is that whatever the regime in Myanmar, 

without international pressure, there will be very little internal impetus to speak 

out for the rights of the Rohingya and history will continue to repeat itself. • 

Violence against women 

A much-needed conversation 

20 


Many of us remember one of the most charged moments of last year’s Dhaka 

Literary Festival 2016, when Bangladeshi barrister Sara Hussein sat in the 

audience and asked a panel on women -- which involved translator Deborah 

Smith, journalist Rosamund Urwin, writer Bee Rowlatt and journalist Lady 

Nadira Naipaul -- why exactly a bunch of British women were discussing 

women’s issues in Bangladesh without actually involving any local feminists 

in the conversation. 

Her objections to Lady Naipaul’s sweeping generalisations about South Asian 

women drew a round of applause from the audience and this year, credit must 

be given to the DLF organisers for taking this criticism in stride and organising 

panels on positions of women and violence against women once again – but this 

time with women from home and abroad. In order to make these debates even 

more accessible, this year’s panels will be in Bangla as well as English. 

The headliner of the Bengali panel is Anwara Syed Haq, a writer and 

psychiatrist who has written 25 novels and over 19 collections of poems, short 

stories and essays. The panel with the venerated writer will be moderated by 

journalist Munni Saha and will focus on violence against women. Given the 

violence that occurs daily on our streets and the silent abuse that continues 

behind closed doors, not to mention institutionalised violence against 

minorities and refugees, one can expect this discussion to be quite compelling. 

However, it is not only Bangladesh that is in the spotlight. The whole world 

is now in the middle of questioning and challenging the structures of power 

that normalise toxic masculinity. The accusations against Hollywood tycoon 

Harvey Weinstein has kickstarted a much-needed debate on the pervasiveness 

of sexual assault and harassment in all sections of society, and the impunity 

of those with power. Given that President Trump, the so-called “leader of 

the free world” has been caught on tape bragging about using power to take 

advantage of women, and still managed to win an election despite it. There is 

no better time to discuss the glorification of toxic masculinity and the rise of 

conservative ideologies that go hand in hand with it. 

Internationally renowned poet, playwright and educator Sophia Walker, 

who has worked with organisations as diverse as the United Nations and 

Million Women Rise, will take the lead in kindling this conversation at the 

Dhaka Literary Festival 2017. This panel will also include Sabina Rashid, a 

Bangladeshi power woman who has over 20 years of research experience on 

gender, sexual and reproductive helth. • 


Children’s literature 

Of loss and leaps 

‘I will say that a project is mine when, 

through making it, a little part of me is taken 

away from me and isinside that film’ 

• Luba Khalili 

With his directorial debut, Hotel Albatross being one of the most talked 

about items on TV this past Eid, Nuhash Humayun brings out Paperfrogs, a 

coming-of-age story with a personal touch. The short film will be screened at 

this year’s Dhaka Lit Fest. Paperfrogs is a film born out of moments the young 

director felt compelled to encapsulate, and one that everyone involved had 

made into a genuine experience, both for themselves as well as the audience. 

With unfeigned originality, Paperfrogs is a film Bangladesh hasn’t ever 

seen, but it’s a story we all have felt. The winner of Best Debut Film Award of 

this year’s Daily Star’s Celebrating Life not only shows promise, but is a film 

that will definitely stay with you. Here’s what the creator has to say about his 

film. 

What did you have in mind when you began this project? 

When I was writing the first draft, a big part of it was getting feedback, and not 

just from other writers and filmmakers. The biggest part was my nieces. They 

were helping me with the script. 

I wanted Shajbati’s character to be an authentic portrayal of young people, 

what a young Bangali girl would be like. That was a large part of the film. 

Paperfrogs deals with loss, depression, and finding your path when youre 

young -- a lot of genuine things young people experience. In Bangladesh, we 

don’t always see hat in the media. We have a lot of things in the media that 

portrays young people as hip and cool and there is a lot of fun marketing around 

what it means to be young. But there’s another angle we don’t normally see. 

kind of film, then the film will stay with you. Theres some personal things in 

there that can genuinely connect with people. 

You’ve said that the production process has been more personal than most 

other projects. Can you elaborate a bit more? 

When I was writing PF, I didn’t know it at the time, but I was really suffering 

from depression. I didn’t put a label on it, but it was a loss of hope, a stagnancy. 

Even shooting it was a way to get out of that. It was therapeutic. 

For every filmmaker, there are big and small projects, but there’s one thing 

that you start with, for that to get you off the ground, it has to be your family 

and your friends who help you. Paperfrogs was that for me in a lot of ways. 

Even though there was a professional crew and cast members too, it was a nice 

combination. Like, we had a film crew, but my mother cooked for everyone. 

This film is a stark contrast to Hotel Albatross. Can you expand on how 

Paperfrogs is different from the Eid special you have done? 

Paperfrogs has a unique position in my body of work, because, while Hotel 

Albatross was a big budget thing, with a star-studded cast, Paperfrogs was 

shot entirely in my living room, so it was a lot more intimate. 

The producers and executive producers are my best friends. What makes 

it special, I think, is that it’s very much our story without any interventions. 

Without anyone else telling us what to do, it’s one of the most Nuhash things 

that I’ve made. 

How did Paperfrogs materialise? 

There are ideas in my head that I can never get rid of, that stay with me for 

years and years. The only way I can get rid of these ideas is by making them. 

And PF is one of those things 

Once I wrote the first draft, everyone who read it said: “You need to make 

this, and let me help you.” It snowballed into something much bigger, just 

because so many people connected with the story. And I never thought that 

by the time we made it, we had Barkat Hossain Polash, who is a phenomenal 

cinematographer, and we had a really good exceutive producer. 

What do you think makes Paperfrogs worth the watch? 

I think we should hold ourselves to higher standards. A lot of times in 

Bangladesh we watch something and say: “This is not bad for a Bangali film.” 

I’m very self critical inthat I want to make something that goes beyond the 

other stuff out there. 

With anything I make that is what’s important to me, to make sure that I 

don’t underestimate my audiences’ intelligence or taste. Right now, anyone 

in Bangladesh has access to Netflix and anything else that’s coming out. We 

take in everything, so theres no excuse to make a bad film. 

With Paperfrogs, I definitely think that if a coming of age story is your 

What do you think are the challenges young directors face in our film 

industry? 

I think the hardest point is not finding your way, but once you already have. 

Once you’re on your own set, and you’re surrounded by all these people 

who are better and more experienced than you are. The hardest thing in that 

moment is keeping your calm and still be you. 

Everyone’s going to try to give you advice and tell you what you should 

do, but you came here with a vision. You had an idea that you were running 

around Bangladesh trying to get made, you need to still be that same kid. 

Be almost naïve in that idea and say: “No, this is exactly what I have to 

make.” I think that is the hardest part -- to be on set and still be yourself, 

retaining your voice. • 

Three things the kids must not miss out at DLF: 

• Arts & Letters Desk 

Mostafa runs a weekly TV show for 

children. His philosophy is centred around 

Nandana Sen and Nabaneeta Dev Sen spreading social messages through his 

Author of Not Yet! and Talky Tumble of puppet shows. 

Jumble Farm, Nandana joins her mother 

Nabaneeta, one of the most renowned Presentation on Sukumar Ray 

authors of Bengal. 

A household name in Bengal, the world 

of Sukumar Ray will be explored and 

Mostafa Monowar’s puppet show 

presented at the Dhaka Lit Fest. • 

Commonly known as “puppet man,” 

21 


ARTS & LETTERS

Book review 

Fiction of Lawrence Osborne: Allegories of our time 

Nadeem Zaman 

is a fiction writer. 

He’s a speaker at 

the DLF this year. 

. 

• Nadeem Zaman 

If a novel about a displaced Syrian man washed ashore on an 

idyllic Greek island is as topical as a topic can get, then the 

discovery of that man by two young women -- one American, 

one British -- vacationing for the summer with their wealthy 

parents on the same island, risks running head-on into that most 

detested wall of the cliché -- and that, too, the most obvious one of 

the Great White Saviour storyline. With three critically acclaimed 

works of fiction, Lawrence Osborne has chipped away at this 

insidious trope. 

After sojourns in New York City, Istanbul and Mexico, the British 

expat currently lives in Bangkok in order not to live “in rooms” his 

whole life. It is also not to write ignobly about foreign lands, which 

he believes is a damning quality of many foreign correspondents. 

Comfort zones are not for him, and it is evident in his fiction, 

notably his latest novel, Beautiful Animals, which takes repeated 

and unabashed stabs at affluent white Europeans and Americans 

-- from their staggeringly expensive ways of seeking new ways 

to bore themselves into further alcoholism while vacationing in paradises 

around the world, to their eccentric views on the human condition. 

Beautiful Animals is quite evidently an allegory of our times. But instead of 

being a tale of morality and only that, Osborne couches its moral investigations 

into the more immediate plot of a tense psychological thriller. Through his 

characters’ interactions, he asks questions about exile, laws, right, wrong, 

human obligations to one another, and what makes a criminal act from theft 

to murder justified. 

The novel is propelled by the actions of Naomi and Samantha (Sam). 

The former is a lawyer recently fired from her firm in London for unethical 

practices on behalf of a client. Her father is a wealthy art-collecting tycoon 

with homes in their native England, Italy and Greece. The latter, also born to 

wealthy parents, is a product of white American liberalism that still believes 

there is such a thing as a well-meaning racist. 

Naomi and Sam forge a quick friendship. Naomi’s guilt-ridden conscience 

of being born into extreme wealth is balanced by Sam’s nonchalance about 

the pricks of conscience itself. On one of their hikes and swim getaways, to 

escape the booze-money-cocktail party Ferris wheel of their parents’ lives, 

they discover Faoud, the man washed ashore. Naomi makes it a personal 

agenda to assist him with anything and everything within her power. Sam, 

while skeptical and wondering out loud if Faoud is Christian or Muslim, and 

if that should determine whether Naomi ought to help him or not, goes along. 

On the surface, these are superficial markers of characters whose 

developments remain in flux throughout the novel. Sam’s father Jeffrey 

and brother Christopher have a pedantic conversation about missing home 

as seen through their readings of the Odyssey, which, in the course of the 

conversation, Jeffrey calls pedantic. Amy, Sam’s mother, will never admit 

she has racist strains, and might likely puff up with indignation against the 

charge. But she is perpetually wary of her daughter falling to the nefarious 

pull of Greek boys, and wants Sam to frequent the island’s bar and meet more 

Americans. This suggestion comes in the face of Sam spending too much time 

with Naomi, which leads Amy to first wonder if they are getting romantically 

involved, and if they are, she is fine with it. 

Throughout the novel the tension is so tautly drawn that the presentation 

feels simple. Scenes of pastoral beauty have the charge of live wires as the 

people that walk through them carry a multitude of tales inside, said and 

unsaid. When they explode, they do so with the quiet force of a stroke. 

Conversations equally hide and reveal, and what seems the verge of an outburst 

becomes a new opening to more layers of intimacy. Lawrence Osborne writes 

with the professional’s seasoned grace that makes the job look easy. In the 

words of Woody Guthrie, “Any fool can make something complicated. It takes 

a genius to make it simple.” 

Osborne has been called the Graham Greene of his generation. But despite 

critical successes, Osborne, one of Britain’s most acclaimed writers of fiction, 

has been working largely under the radar, away from fame and fortune. If 

Greene, who lived through the height of his country’s empire and lived to 

see its decline and fall, failed to grapple more seriously with it in his fiction, 

Osborne’s gloves are off when tackling one of the most urgent issues in world 

events in his own times. He does so while deploying fiction to go beyond plot 

and character and believability -- he forces it to ask the big, uncomfortable 

questions, and turn the mirror against ourselves. • 

(Abridged) 

‘For me the supreme pleasure is the telling of stories’ 

Five questions with Lawrence Osborne 

• Rifat Munim 

You are one of the speakers at 

the Dhaka Lit Fest this year. 

How do you feel about visiting 

Dhaka and joining the festival? 

Even though I live only two 

hours away in Bangkok, it is 

my first time in Bangladesh. 

Therefore, I am very excited and 

curious … 

Even more so. I see myself more as a migrant, or emigrant, than an ex-pat. I 

actually loathe the latter word and I usually loathe the people who accept it 

for themselves. 

Would you tell us something about your Bangkok Days, especially about how 

you conceived the idea of this book and what kind of research it required? 

It’s a book I wrote ten years ago – I suppose you could say in the spirit of Henry 

Miller and his books about Paris. Bangkok had struck me as rather like the 

Paris of the 30’s, and in some ways it still does. I wanted to write something 

free and anarchic, and I suppose something that would express my love for the 

city and its people. Needless to say, such impulses are often misunderstood. 

22 

Are you familiar with the works of any Bangladeshi writer? 

Monica Ali is well known in the UK because of Brick Lane. Tahmima Anam, 

too. I am curious to read Humayun Ahmed and maybe see his films too, if they 

are available. 

You have been leading an expatriate life since long. This aspect of your life 

certainly informs your nonfiction books. But does it also affect your fictional 

works? 

Your fictional works are as acclaimed as your nonfiction books. Do you enjoy 

writing in both genres, or you prefer one to the other? 

I don’t really write non-fiction any more. I am not a historian, and would be at 

best an amateur one if I ever got round to trying my hand at it. Others are more 

learned and more exact. Besides, for me the supreme pleasure is the telling of 

stories that disturb me enough to give me nightmares. I don’t know how other 

people read them. Hopefully with the same effect. • 


Personal essay 

Lionel Shriver in town 

• Saad Z Hossain 

I’ve read two of her books: The Mandibles, a satire set in the future about total 

disintegration, a subject naturally attractive to me, and We Need to Talk About 

Kevin, which is her most famous work, a cult classic that I read over the last three 

days. 

I enjoyed both works. The Kevin book is about a school shooting from the 

point of view of the killer’s mother, a woman writing letters to her estranged 

husband, laying bare her life, and given our new propensity as a species towards 

mass killings, it’s an issue worth contemplating. How can you not know your 

son is going to shoot up the place? Were you asleep the whole time? Were you 

complicit? 

It’s an interesting story, a slow meander through (the narrator) Eve’s life, 

establishing that she is her own person, not simply an appendage of her son, a 

dilemma all parents confront I suppose, even if their children turn out perfectly 

functional. At what point do you cease to be? When are you supposed to abrogate 

your potential, to become so-and-so’s mother? 

As a child and then a young adult, you expect your parents to be parents. 

They are supposed to box themselves into those roles, they are to cease being 

individuals and embrace a role which precludes any kind of erratic behaviour, 

whether emotional or physical. You’re old now, stop making waves, just settle 

down and finish your life in a dignified manner ... It’s frightening, this negation 

of elderly people, which I suppose starts right at the cusp of parenthood and 

continues to chip away at identity until death. I get that panic from Eve, and as I 

get older, I fully appreciate it. 

Eve’s story gives us all of this, while wandering through some horrific events 

involving a child psychopath, into the full inferno of a fictional school shooting. 

It’s a peculiar skill, to be able to humanise the horrible, to make a narrator 

relatable whom everyone is predisposed to hate. The pace of the book draws you 

in, the letters talking about the regular minutiae of a married couple, sometimes 

ill-suited, sometimes perfectly matched, and you know Kevin is 

looming in the back and all around, but Eve retains her own identity, 

and perhaps that is the whole point of it. 

It is of course identity that is important to Lionel Shriver. There 

is, though, the small issue of cultural appropriation, of a speech in 

Australia and the backlash against it. The charges against her were that 

she was making light of cultural appropriation, the seizing of identity 

of some other race by the white woman, the stealing of stories, the 

final insult in the long sordid story of colonialism and exploitation. 

As a person of colour, I recognise that there aren’t too many seats 

at the table for me, and now it seems my necessity can be removed 

altogether. It’s a kind of theft, isn’t it? Surely, this usurpation, when you 

know that the deck is stacked in your favour, that if you and a POC write 

the same story, the odds are much higher that your one will see the light 

of day. I get all that, I get the rage of the POC in the face of unfairness. 

But then I think about myself, as a writer, and I imagine those rules 

being applied to me, that straitjacket of cultural appropriation. They 

wouldn’t let me write about Baghdad. How dare I? I’m not Arab, I’ve 

never even visited the region, I’ve never fought a war. So, who the hell am I tell a 

story like that, what right do I have? 

And I would have to say, back off, I’ll write about whatever I want, the entire 

world belongs to me, I’ll scour every corner for what I need, and I’ll write for an 

audience of ten if need be. And if seven out of those ten don’t like what I say, then 

I’ll write for an audience of three. 

See, that’s the only reward for fiction writing; we don’t get paid much, we 

certainly don’t expect wealth and fame although it might come to a miniscule 

few ... but we get to create the world as we see fit, we get to make characters that 

live and act, and if our worlds and our characters are good enough then people 

read the books. 

So for what it’s worth, please, Lionel Shriver, write about whatever you want ...• 

Saad Z Hossain 

is bringing out his 

second novel, Djinn 

City, from Bengal 

Lights Books. He’s 

also a speaker at 

DLF 2017. 

. 

‘Straightforward stories are just boring to me’ 

An interview with Catherine Lacey 

• Rifat Munim 

What are you reading at the moment? 

Mostly my student’s work this week. The journals of André Gide are next. 

What are you writing at the moment? 

A play. 

Have you read any work of fiction by a Bangladeshi author? 

A major problem in American publishing is how insular it is and though I 

frequently seek out work in translation or from non-American authors, I have 

yet to come across a Bangladeshi author. I’ll happily take a recommendation! 

How do you feel about attending the Dhaka Lit fest 2017? 

I’m very much looking forward to it. I love travelling, even airports are exciting 

to me. 

You are on Granta’s 2017 list of best American novelists and Granta will be 

launched at the DLF this year. Do you think this initiative will bridge the gap 

between the centre and the periphery? 

Not necessarily. It’s just a list of some writers that some other writers think are 

worthwhile. Every new centre creates a new periphery. 

In an interview with Granta you said anti-heroes and dystopias are more 

interesting to you. Why? 

I’m interested in characters and dramatic situations that have a lot of discord 

and discomfort because those are the situations and people that we learn 

from. Straightforward stories are just boring to me.• 

23 


ARTS & LETTERS

Fiction 

Stories of diversity 

• Mir Arif 

This year’s DLF will prove to be a lode of diverse literary discussions, 

bridging cultural, social, regional and national differences. It will 

bring together writers of diasporic, postcolonial and absurdist 

tradition who defy the Eurocentric view of the world. Their tales spin 

around displaced, undocumented and distressed people who, for centuries, 

remained underrepresented in literature. Let us meet them: 

Deepak Unnikrishnan 

In fiction, no writer could address 

the humanitarian crisis of ‘guestworkers’ 

of the Gulf as Deepak 

Unnikrishnan did in his debut 

novel, Temporary People, which 

details the lives and experiences 

of South Asian diaspora in the 

United Arab Emirates. Without 

any prospect of citizenship, 

labourers of the Gulf find 

themselves trapped in their 

dreamscape and discover that 

they are only “temporary people,” 

not citizen, not even fully human. 

Giving voice to an anonymous, invisible population in the Gulf, Unnikrishnan 

has received praises in the literary world, and his talent is recognized with 

Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. 

Aruna Chakravarti 

By her three fictions The 

Inheritors, Jorasanko and a 

sequel, Daughters of Jorasanko, 

Aruna Chakravarti has made 

a distinct place in the literary 

world. She portrays a lost world 

of a very traditional Hindu family 

in The Inheritors. More than 

anything else she gets to the heart 

of conflict between tradition and 

change, between puritanism and 

progress. Charkravati’s other bestselling 

books are Jorasanko and 

its sequel Daughters of Jorasanko, 

which provide a fascinating account of Tagore women who played a pivotal 

role in the Bengal Renaissance, with the Tagore family at the forefront of the 

movement. 

Catherine Lacey 

Catherine Lacey is the author of 

The Answers and Nobody is Ever 

Missing. Lacey’s characters make 

snarky comments about women 

pursuing their dreams in a world 

of patriarchal dominance. She 

inspects through her works the 

orders, rules and the nature of 

corporeality, how we own them 

and to what degree we adopt 

them in our lives. She is the 

winner of Whiting Award, and 

a finalist for the NYPL’s Young 

Lions Fiction Award. 

Jesse Ball 

Jesse Ball is regarded as a leading 

American novelist for his works 

Samedi the Deafness, The Way 

Through Doors, Silence Once 

Begun and A Cure for Suicide. 

Ball belongs to the absurdist 

tradition of existentialism. His 

awards include a Guggenheim 

Fellowship, an NEA grant and The 

Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize. His 

works have been translated into 

more than a dozen languages. 

David Szalay 

David Szalay is the author of four 

books. His most recent book, 

All That Man Is, was shortlisted 

for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. 

The book consists of nine stories 

and glimpses into the everyday 

life of nine men living in various 

European cities. Szalay won the 

Betty Trask Award for his first 

novel, London and the South- 

East, along with the Geoffrey 

Faber Memorial Prize. He has also 

recently been named one of The 

Telegraph’s Top 20 British Writers Under 40 and has also made it onto Granta 

magazine’s 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists. 

Ashok Ferrey 

Author of five books, Ashok Ferrey 

is Sri Lanka’s bestselling novelist. 

His recent novel, The Ceaseless 

Chatter of Demons, was longlisted 

for the 2017 DSC Prize. The plot 

swings across different countries 

and continents. His collection 

of short stories, Colpetty People, 

was shortlisted for the Gratiaen 

Prize, Sri Lanka’s premier literary 

award. • 

24 


Bangladeshi fiction writers in English 

• Mir Arif and Sayeeda T Ahmad 

Fiction 

Presence of Bangladeshi fiction writers in English will be one of the main attractions of the 7th edition of Dhaka Lit Fest. Whether they are based in Dhaka 

or in some other country, the rich tradition and history of Bangladesh continues to serve as a compelling literary theme in their works. Their literary voices 

are authentic, powerful and variegated. The impressive lineup this year features both seasoned and emerging voices of fiction writers. 

Syed Manzoorul Islam 

Syed Manzoorul Islam is a 

distinguished academic, essayist, 

short story writer, novelist, 

translator, columnist and critic. 

He is also one of Bangladesh’s 

best bilingual fiction writers. His 

collection of short stories, The 

Merman’s Prayer and Other Stories, 

was published by Daily Star Books 

in 2013. His novel, Strange Night, 

translated by QP Alam and edited 

by Arunava Sinha, is forthcoming 

from Bengal Lights Books. 

Kazi Anis Ahmed 

Dhaka Lit Fest director Kazi Anis Ahmed 

made his mark with his debut short story 

collection, Good night, Mr Kissinger, 

which was published in Bangladesh by 

University Press Limited (2012) and in 

the United States by The Unnamed Press 

(2014). Forty Steps, his first published 

story, printed in the Spring 2000 

issue of the Minnesota Review, was 

nominated for the prestigious Pushcart 

Prize. Random House India published 

Ahmed’s novel, The World in My Hands, 

in December 2013. Bengal Lights Books released his novella, Forty Steps, as a 

bilingual flip book in 2014. The author is now working on a second novel about 

extreme foodies in New York city. 

Khademul Islam 

Khademul Islam is the foremost literary 

editor in Bangladesh, and a well-known 

writer and translator. His translated 

books include On My Birthday and Other 

Poems in Translation which contains 

translations of 25 Bengali poems 

by poets from both parts of Bengal. 

It was published by Bengal Lights 

Books in November 2016. His memoir, 

Shooting at Sharks, is forthcoming from 

Bloomsbury. An excerpt from the novel, 

“Dogfight over Karachi,” was published 

by Granta in December 2013. Currently he is editor of Bengal Lights literary 

journal. Previously he was literary editor at Dhaka Tribune and The Daily Star. 

Sharbari Zohra Ahmed 

Sharbari Zohra Ahmed is a Bangladeshi- 

American writer and playwright. Her debut 

short story collection, The Ocean of Mrs 

Nagai (2013), was published by Daily Star 

Books. She won The First Words Literary 

Prize for South Asian American Writing for 

her story “Raisins Not Virgins.” Her literary 

profile covers performance, film direction, 

scriptwriting, and teaching creative 

writing. She also co-wrote episodes for 

ABC’s thriller series, Quantico. Dust Under 

Our Feet is her forthcoming novel. 

Saad Z Hossain 

Saad Z Hossain writes in a niche 

genre of fantasy, science fiction 

and black comedy. His debut 

novel, Baghdad Immortals, was 

published by Bengal Publications 

in 2013. It was published in the 

United States by The Unnamed 

Press in 2015 as “Escape from 

Baghdad!.” A sarcastic war satire, 

it contains dark humour and 

comedy. Djinn City, to be released 

this November by The Unnamed 

Press in the USA and Bengal Lights Books in Bangladesh, is a fantasy 

adventure. He is a columnist for the Daily Star literary page. 

Ikhtishad Ahmed 

Published by Bengal Lights Books, 

Ikhtisad Ahmed’s debut short story 

collection, Yours Etcetra, is a blend of 

socio-political satire and imagination. His 

absurdist tragicomedy, The Deliverance of 

Sanctuary, is published by AuthorHouse 

UK. His two projects in development 

include Esne in Taberna, about the 

Occupy movement, and MADE, the 

story of Bangladeshi garment workers. 

“The Line,” a collaborative venture with 

Sharbari Z Ahmed, is going to be a TV 

series about Bangladeshi immigration to 

the US. • 

25 


ARTS & LETTERS

Panels 

From literature to things 

unseen 


The vast array of content featured at the Dhaka Lit Fest each year might 

sometimes seem overwhelming, even if delightfully so. This year is no 

different. As we inch closer to the three-day long festival of literary (and 

beyond) artistry, here’s a tiny sneak peek to a couple of panels that none of us 

would want to miss. 

The mother-daughter duo 

The Padma Shri Bengali writer and poet Nabaneeta Dev Sen is joined by none 

other than her immensely talented actor-activist daughter, Nandana Sen. 

The wonderful duo will grace the grounds of Bangla Academy and delve into 

discussions of all the creative concoctions of their mother-daughter bond. 

Nandana, who has translated a few of Nabaneeta’s books into English, is 

a phenomenal children’s book author, as well as a children’s rights activist. 

Nabaneeta’s list of accomplishments is a long one, ranging from being an 

academic to a writer and a poet to a recipient of many awards. What makes 

this panel even more interesting is that it will be moderated by none other 

than famous Bangladeshi actor, director and cultural personality Sara Zaker, 

who has led many significant campaigns for gender equality, women’s health 

and environmental issues. 

Into the world of science 

Leaping a bit further away (or perhaps, not too far at all), another panel that 

will be featured at the DLF is one where we will explore the unseen. Dr Belal 

Baaquie, a theoretical physicist of over 30 years of experience in academia 

and the author of Exploring the Invisible Universe, will traverse through the 

realities of what we cannot see. From stars to black holes and superstrings, 

Dr Baaquie’s expertise may give us insight into the foundation of nature as we 

know it. This panel will be moderated by Hossain Zillur Rahman, author of a 

number of books on many sociological issues, rural poverty and agriculture in 

Bangladesh. Another panel called Integrating Science will focus more on the 

practical aspects of science into our everyday lives. • 

The truth seekers at DLF 


Journalists, at their core, are meant to investigate 

and bring out truths to the public. What follows 

is an introduction to the truth seekers to look 

out for at Dhaka List Fest this 

November: Dominic Ziegler, 

Richard Lloyd Parry, Michael 

Vatikiotis, Victor Mallet and 

Bee Rowlatt. 

British journalist Dominic 

Ziegler is Asia editor at The 

Economist and pens the 

weekly “Banyan, column on 

Asian affairs. His Black 

Dragon River: A Journey 

Down the Amur River 

between Russia and 

China, is a geo-historical 

look at the civilisations 

that emerged and fell along 

this river. 

Richard Lloyd Parry is a British 

foreign correspondent, author, and The 

Times of London’s Asia Editor in Tokyo. Parry 

covered the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 

2004 and interviewed Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived 

the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. For this coverage, the UKbased 

What the Papers Say awards in 2005 honoured him as Foreign 

Correspondent of the Year. 

His debut book, In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of 

Chaos (2005), looks into General Suharto’s fall from power following 

his decades-long rule over the island nation. People Who Eat Darkness: 

The Fate of Lucie Blackman, is an in-depth look into the young British 

woman who went missing in Japan. This October, he published Ghosts 

of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone, an account of 

the 2011 earthquake that sent a tsunami smashing into Japan. 

American journalist Michael Vatikiotis investigates the history and 

politics of Southeast Asia. The former BBC correspondent was later a 

correspondent, bureau chief, and then editor of the Hong-Kong based 

news magazine, Far Eastern Economic Review. His Indonesian Politics 

Under Suharto studies General Suharto and his fall from power. In Political 

Change in Southeast Asia: Trimming the Banyan Tree (1996), he presents 

the debate between the propponents and opponents of democracy. 

Senior journalist, commentator, and correspondent Victor Mallet is 

Asia News Editor for the Financial Times. His debut book, The Trouble 

with Tigers: The Rise and Fall of South-East Asia (1999) examines the 

ideology and reality behind the political, cultural, and economic 

changes sweeping through Southeast Asia. 

Published this July, Mallet’s “River of Life, River of Death: The 

Ganges and India’s Future” provides a comprehensive and up-to-date 

history of the river while trying to answer if the Ganges has a future. 

Bee Rowlatt has long been a producer for the BBC World Service and 

works now as a freelance journalist based in New Delhi. 

In her 2010 personal narrative, “Talking about Jane Austen in 

Baghdad: The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship,” she and collaborator 

May Witwit provide a moving picture of the implausible but sincere 

friendship between herself and an English lecturer from Baghdad. In 

her 2016 book, “In Search of Mary: The Mother of All Journeys,” Rowlatt 

was inspired to retrace the footsteps of her hero, Mary Wollstonecraft. • 

26 


Journalism 

Shining light on the grey areas 


It may come as a surprise to many that world-renowned journalists 

should mingle with fiction writers and artistes from around the world in 

Bangladesh’s biggest literary festival. But to those whose reading habits 

have led them to push the boundaries of genre, this is not surprising at 

all; to them the thin line between journalism and literature is blurred ever 

so often that they know Joseph Mitchell was a fine writer of prose and so 

was Monazatuddin, both of whom were basically journalists. In a world 

ravaged by war, displacement and poverty, journalists are the ones 

who shine light on the grey areas of our perceptions and help us 

understand the real politics behind issues that otherwise remain 

incomprehensible to us. 

Bachi Karkaria, Sudeep Chakravarti, Samrat Chowdhury, 

Jyoti Malhotra, Garga Chatterjee and Justin Rowlatt, among 

others, will speak at the Dhaka Lit Fest this year about issues 

relating to civil liberties in South Asia. This is an opportunity 

for festival-goers to hear from them firsthand and add to the 

conversation. 

Indian-Parsi journalist and columnist Bachi Karkaria writes on 

issues relating to HIV/AIDS, gender and population. The first Indian 

on the board of the World Editor’s Forum, Karkaria is also well known 

for her satirical column, Erratica, in The Times of India, where she has 

served as an editor, and Giving Gyan, the equivalent of “Agony Aunt” 

in the Mumbai Mirror. In her tenure at The Statesman, she brought 

women’s issues to the fore and contributed significantly to changing 

the newspaper’s editorial policy and practice from the traditional 

patriarchal outlook on women. 

Goa-based journalist and author Sudeep Chakravarty 

has penned several nonfiction works and is a sought-after 

commentator on socio-political and business issues in South 

Asia. Chakravarty’s “The Bengalis: A Portrait of a Community” 

is his most recent work, and came out at the tail end of October. 

It’s a light-hearted examination of the world’s third-largest ethnolinguistic 

people and explores the quirks and essence of being Bengali. 

Chakravarty’s career as a journalist began at the Asian Wall Street 

Journal. Chakravarty’s first narrative, Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country, 

(2008) a critically acclaimed bestseller, takes the reader deep into India’s 

ongoing Maoist (or Naxalite) rebellion. In Highway 39: Journeys through 

a Fractured Land (2012), he uncovers the violence that has ripped 

through the history of Nagaland and Manipur, and continues into 

an uncertain but hopeful future. 

Editor of The Asian Age’s Mumbai edition Samrat Chowdhury 

has written for The Times of India, Hindustan Times, India 

Today, Deccan Chronicle, Dhaka Tribune and The New York 

Times, to mention just a few. Also a fiction writer, he has 

published numerous essays and articles on Indian and South 

Asian political, cultural, and environmental affairs. His most 

remarkable work is a set of essays in The Hindu on the Brahmaputra, 

especially on the river’s value to the poor who depend on it for their 

livelihoods, and the dredging works that threaten their lives. 

Senior journalist Jyoti Malhotra has contributed news articles to 

BBC World’s “Business Matters,” Al Jazeera, Newsweek Middle East and 

Television Corporation. A Consulting Editor for the Indian Express, her writing 

focuses on domestic Indian politics and India’s foreign policy. Malhotra is also 

president of the India chapter of South Asia Women in Media, a pan-South 

Asian organisation for women journalists. 

Garga Chatterjee is a well-known journalist on South Asian politics and 

culture. His articles -- penned in Bangla, English, and Hindi -- have appeared 

widely in various Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Nepali newspapers. A 

professor at Kolkata’s Indian Statistical 

Institute, he has written on illegal 

Bangladeshis in West Bengal, press 

freedom in South Asia, and the perception of 

“Marwaris” as outsiders in Kolkata. 

BBC South Asia correspondent Justin Rowlatt 

has made documentaries that were nominated for the Royal Television 

Society and BAFTA awards. The senior BBC reporter and presenter has 

covered the rise of IS in Afghanistan, the Nepal earthquake, and exposed the 

terrible working conditions at tea estates in India in his career. He has also 

written on South Asian politics and environmental issues, namely his widely 

read interactive article on the Ganges River. • 

27 


ARTS & LETTERS

Research & academia 

The great educators 


The world of academia is an exhilarating roller coaster for those involved with research, books, conferences, and more, trying to break down commonly 

held perceptions by revealing the nuances within. While for many outside academia, the sector might feel paralysing to grasp, this year’s DLF will feature 

some top of the game educators who may just demystify the staggering aura that surrounds them and their work. 

28 

Ananya Jahanara Kabir 

Currently a professor of English Literature 

at King’s College London, Ananya 

Jahanara Kabir has authored countless 

books and essays including Partition’s 

Post-Amnesias and Territory of Desire: 

Representing the Valley of Kashmir. Her 

focus has primarily been on the politics 

and culture of South Asian diaspora, but 

recently, she has branched her research 

out to other parts of the world as well. 

Her research project “Modern Moves” 

attempts to deconstruct the perceptions 

of African societies via Afro-diasporic 

rhythms and dances. 

Valentine Cunningham 

Appointed Officer of the Order of the 

British Empire (OBE) earlier this year, 

Valentine Cunningham is a veteran in 

academia. He is a retired professor of 

English language and literature, and has 

left his mark at the University of Oxford, 

Corpus Christi College (where he is an 

Emeritus Fellow, and has served as vice 

president). In 1992 and 1998, he was on 

the panel of judges for the Booker Prize. 

Naomi Hossain 

With 20 years of experience in 

development research under her belt, 

Naomi Hossain is a research fellow at 

the Institute of Development Studies. 

She focuses her work on politics of 

poverty and public services and effects of 

subsistence crises. Her recent book, The 

Aid Lab, published by Oxford University 

Press earlier this year, is on the political 

effects of Bangladesh’s 1974 famine. 

Salimullah Khan 

An educator with a wide variety of topics 

of focus, Salimullah Khan has taught all 

over Bangladesh, such as at the University 

of Rajshahi, IBA of University of Dhaka, 

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh 

and more. He was a fellow at SOAS as 

well as Stockholm University. Salimullah 

Khan’s work engages in discussions about 

political economy in Bengal, colonialism, 

western interventions, and the list goes 

on. From Frantz Fanon to Talal Asad, 

Lalon Shah and Tareque Masud, his work cuts across many disciplines and 

branches of knowledge. He has translated works of Plato, Frants Fanon, and 

many others into Bangla. 

Shamsuzzaman Khan 

Shamsuzzaman Khan is the director general 

of Bangla Academy, and had written over 

70 books on various subjects, ranging from 

literary pieces to children’s literature. He 

began his teaching career at Harahanha 

College, then moved to other institutes in 

Bangladesh including Jagannath College, 

Bangladesh Agricultural University, 

and National University of Bangladesh. 

Prior to working with Bangla Academy, 

Shamsuzzaman Khan was also the director 

general at the Bangladesh National Museum 

as well as Shilpakala Academy. 

Mousumi Banerjee 

An academic with a myriad of other talents 

to show for, Mousumi Banerjee is currently 

a professor at the University of Michigan 

School of Public Health, and a Director of 

Biostatistics at the Centre for Healthcare 

Outcomes and Policy. Her work focuses on 

cancer prognostication and understanding 

patterns of cancer treatment, and 

she has produced numerous research 

papers on survival with cancer, cancer 

prognostication, related fields. Aside 

from her profession in the hard sciences, 

Mousumi Banerjee is also a passionate 

writer and a singer. 

Jeff Kingston 

Jeff Kingston is a professor at Japan’s Temple 

University, and the director of Asian 

Studies. He was written multiple publications 

focused on Japanese politics, as well 

as written for The Japan Times, and has 

been an outspoken critic of Shinzo Abe’s 

historical revisionism. His book Nationalism 

in Asia: A History since 1945 was published 

in 2016, and currently, he is working 

on researching religion, nationalism, and 

national identity in Asia.• 


New titles to launch at DLF 

Books 


Aside from the exciting sessions and speakers, many literary journals 

and books by Bangladeshi authors and editors are being launched 

by local publishers marking the biggest occasion of writers and their 

books. These are the titles to keep an eye out for while browsing the 

many book stalls. 

Bengal Lights Books 

Bengal Lights Books is bringing out seven titles 

at the festival. Saad Z Hossain, described as 

a writer of fantasy, science fiction and black 

comedy, will have a new novel out, Djinn City. 

Renowned poet Kaiser Haq will bring out an 

enlarged edition of Pariah and Other Poems, 

which an enlarged volume of all the poems he 

has written since releasing his book, Published in 

the Streets of Dhaka: Collected Poems from UPL 

in 2012. 

Truth or Dare is a short story collection by 

British-Bangladeshi writer Nadia Kabir Barb, 

featuring 12 

stories spanning 

two continents. 

Poet Nausheen 

Eusuf, a PhD 

candidate in 

English at Boston 

University, will 

publish her 

debut poetry 

collection, Not 

Elegy, but Eros, 

in Bangladesh. 

The poems, set in 

Bangladesh and 

which cover a 

range of styles and 

themes, honour 

the dead even as 

they affirm and 

celebrate life. 

Under the 

Library of 

Bangladesh 

series, BLB also 

presents Imdadul 

Haq Milan’s Two 

Novellas, an English translation of two novellas by the award-winning fiction 

writer. Translated from Bengali by Saugata Ghosh, the book is edited by 

Arunava Sinha. 

An English translation of Kamal Chowdhury’s poems, Selected Poems of 

Kamal Chowdhury, will be published as well. A brilliant group of translators 

under the aegis of Dhaka Translation Centre translated the poems. 

A new issue of Bengal Lights Magazine, edited by Khademul Islam, will also 

come out. It will contain a rich collection of short and long pieces of fiction, 

and poems. 

The reprint of AG Stock’s 1973 nonfiction work, Memoirs of Dacca University 

1947-1951, is also a title of note to check out this year when you browse through 

the Bengal Lights Books stall. 

University Press Limited 

Meanwhile, book lovers should be on the 

lookout for new titles from UPL. Perveen 

Ahmed’s memoir, Under the same sky, 

narrates a deeply personal experience of the 

subcontinent’s transformation through the 

greater part of the 20th century. 

The other titles from UPL are Zeena 

Choudhury’s memoir, Church Bells and 

Darjeeling Tea, Kaiser Haq’s new extended 

edition of Published in the streets of Dhaka, 

Niaz Zaman and Asif Farrukhi’s enlarged 

edition of Fault lines: Stories of 1971 and 

Ananya Jahanara Kabir’s Partition’s Post 

Amnesias: 1947, 1971 and Modern South Asia. 

Sharada Kolluru and Saiq’a Chowdhury have collaborated on a children’s 

illustrated story book, Poran the postman, with illustrations by Sabyasachi 

Mistry. 

Bengal Publications 

Publisher Bengal Publications 

will once again bring out the 

latest issue of the literary 

journal Six Seasons Review 

(Volume 4, Issue 1), edited by 

Fakrul Alam. 

The latest issue of 

Jamini, Bengal Publication’s 

international arts magazine, 

edited by Luva Nahid 

Choudhury, will also be 

available. 

EMMzine, or Exploring 

Mind Matters Zine, described 

as a non-fiction/art catalogue, 

is an independent magazine of illustrations and written pieces dedicated to 

the taboo topics of mental illness and health. With a young adult audience as 

its target readers, the magazine is more of an experiment in creative therapy 

than an academic work on the psyche. 

Additionally, two special anthologies will be out at DLF. The short story 

anthology, It’s All Relative, edited by Editorial coordinator Zeenat Chowdhury, 

features short stories. 

The war narrative anthology, Stories from the Edge: Personal Stories of the 

Liberation War, edited by Dr Niaz Zaman and Dr Razia Sultana Khan, features 

personal narratives of women who experienced the war from the periphery. 

The stories were penned by members of The Reading Circle Dhaka. 

A Wistful Existence is a collaborative work between Bangladeshi poet Samia 

Tamrin Ahmed and Czech photographer Antonin Vacek, with featured verses 

inspired by travel photography spanning across both Europe and Asia. 

Others 

Businessman, banker, and writer Salahuddin 

(Sal) Imam is coming out with a short story 

collection, Diana Juxtaposed and Other 

Unrealities, from Har-Anand Publications in 

New Delhi. The title reference is to Princess 

Diana as one of his stories is about her tragic 

end in Paris. • 

29 


ARTS & LETTERS

Poetry 

The lovers of language 

• Luba Khalili and Sayeeda T Ahmad 

Poets use language as artists use paint, crafting stories and evoking emotions through that language. The upcoming Dhaka Lit Fest will have no shortage of these 

painters of words. With a myriad of writers and speakers dabbling in poetry, one might wonder how to sieve through their words of wisdom, of history, of the 

disenfranchised. Worry not. Read on for a list of poets to watch out for at the DLF this year, names both familiar and unfamiliar, but no less significant. 

Kaiser Haq 

A well-known academic, essayist, translator, and poet, 

Kaiser Haq is a veteran of the Bangladesh Liberation 

War. This professor of English at the University of 

Liberal Arts Bangladesh is a literary poet like no 

other. He was awarded the Bangla Academy Prize for 

Translation, and the Sherwin W Howard Poetry Award 

from Weber — the Contemporary West. The poet has 

published nine volumes of poetry, edited two poetry 

anthologies, and translated five volumes. Bengal 

Lights Books is set to release an enlarged edition of his 

book, Pariah and Other Poems, later this year. 

Ahsan Akbar 

A director and key organiser of the Dhaka Lit Fest, 

Ahsan Akbar’s ability to intricately weave words 

into an art piece has been recognised by the likes of 

Florence Noiville and Kaiser Haq. The author of The 

Devil’s Thumbprint, brought out by Bengal Lights 

Books in 2013, has also co-edited a special issue on 

Bangladesh for internationally recognised literary 

journal, Wasafiri, alongside fellow DLF director 

Kazi Anis Ahmed, a journal that features the best of 

Bangladeshi writing. 

Sadaf Saaz Siddiqui 

Sadaf Saaz is a poet, activist, entrepreneur, and cofounder 

and director of the Dhaka Lit Fest. Her debut 

poetry collection, Sari Reams, was released by UPL 

in 2013. Je Kotha Jai Na Bola (That which cannot be 

said) is a collection of her monologues on Bangladeshi 

women’s experiences, and has been performed 

throughout Bangladesh. The writer grew up in the UK 

and is now based in Dhaka, where she is involved in 

a range of initiatives as a cultural activist and curator. 

She is currently at work on a novel. 

Andre Naffis-Sahely 

Poet, translator, and critic Andre Naffis-Sahely was 

born in Venice, spent his youth in Abu Dhabi, and was 

later educated in the UK. He is a Visiting Teaching 

Fellow at Manchester Writing School and also teaches 

at Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles and Whittier 

College. Sahely has translated more than 20 books of 

poetry and fiction from the original French and Italian, 

by Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, Alessandro Spina, 

Tahar Ben Jelloun, and Abdellatif Laâbi. His debut 

collection, The promised Land: Poems from Itinerant 

Life, released by Penguin this year, received much 

praise and The Guardian has dubbed it as “an essential 

summer read,” though this winter would do just as 

well. 

Nausheen Eusuf 

Dhaka native Nausheen Eusuf holds 

Masters degrees in Creative Writing 

and English, respectively, from John 

Hopkins University and the University 

of Georgia, and is at work on a PhD in 

English at Boston University. Longleaf 

Press at Methodist University, USA, 

released her chapbook, What Remains, 

in 2011 as it won the press’s 2011 Poetry 

Chapbook Contest. Bengal Lights Books 

will present Nausheen’s first full-length 

collection of poetry at this year’s DLF. 

Sophia Walker 

Sophia Walker of the UK dubs herself 

a “touring poet and teaching artist” 

on her Facebook page, but she is more 

than that. She is a BBC Slam Champion 

who hosts and organises the yearly BBC 

Slam Championship, arguably the most 

prestigious poetry slam in the UK; she 

is winner of the 2012 Poetry Olympics, 

Edinburgh International Book Festival, 

and 2015 London Slam; she is also a 2015 

UK representative at the World Slam 

Championships. Walker is also writer of spoken word plays. 

Abe Nouk 

The Melbourne-based Abraham “Abe” 

Nouk found his salvation in hip-hop and 

spoken word poetry. In an interview 

with “Books and Arts,” Australia’s 

sole radio programme devoted to 

literature and the arts, he revealed he 

taught himself English after arriving 

with his family at the island continent 

as designated refugees from Sudan. 

Having placed third in the country’s 

National Poetry Slam, he is now an 

award-winning spoken word poet with two books out, including the selfpublished 

debut collection HUMBLE, launched in 2013. 

While this list could not include the other incredible poets at DLF, including 

stalwarts Adonis, Ben Okri, and Nabaneeta Dev Sen, the ones left out are 

by no means less impeccable or well-known. Nirmalendu Goon, Jahar Sen 

Majumdar, and Helal Hafiz are some other names to bear in mind when 

browsing the programme for sessions. • 

30 


Tele-com 

Nabaneeta Dev Sen 

- translation by Khademul Islam 

All the poets featured 

below are joining the 

DLF this year 

Poetry 

Those cloud-headed girls of Joy’s 

I saw one the other day 

at our bus-stop 

unchanged from the old days 

bag on shoulder, hair in twin braids 

wearing a school uniform 

sweat on nose, forelock flattened on brow— 

There she’d be around the phone 

the girl who furtively, secretly stalked it— 

waiting for when it’d be free from Uncle’s watch! 

In the morning when he stepped out for his walk— 

as if by magic the boy too 

would call right then 

Barely would Uncle get past the paan-shop— 

when the phone would ring 

and be snatched up at once 

Shining shoes 

Nausheen Eusuf 

Weekends, growing up, I’d watch my father 

as he sat on a low stool in the veranda 

surrounded by half a dozen pairs of shoes, 

their laces taken out, each meekly awaiting 

its turn. Facing him, assembled on a spread 

of old newspapers: the small round tins 

This time 

Asad Chowdhury 

– translated by Dhaka Translation Centre 

of Kiwi shoe polish (its delicious smell), 

a couple of stiff-bristled horsehair brushes, 

an old towel, and a couple of cloth rags, 

one damp, one dry. One by one, he’d hook 

Am in no hurry to get to anywhere 

Nobody’s waiting for me either— 

On the bed the sunlight’s scolding 

Hushes the door and window curtains. 

The black-and-white photograph is a big blur— 

Black hair. Today against a surprised sky 

Fly tufts of white hair. 

No work; no leisure time either 

Potter around with my books and notes 

Wipe away the dust whorls of Time, 

Time that never does return. 

The spirit wants to join an adda 

The body is no longer willing. 

I startle as I step onto a rickshaw: 

Who was it that I’d told to come over? 

And why had I told him to come over? 

Surely that fellow will not be pleased. 

What am I to do? I keep forgetting things… 

(Reprinted from On My Birthday and Other Poems with 

permission from Bengal Lights Books) 

Footprints 

Kamal Chowdhury 

– translated by QP Alam 

(From the upcoming anthology of translated poems 

edited by Arunava Sinha, titled “Kamal Chowdhury: 

Selected poems” to be launched by BLB at DLF ’17) 

on sand dunes wet with mist, 

our footprints slowly multiplied, like a procession. 

Eight in the evening, the cold biting 

through our scarves, sweaters, trousers and shoes. 

We continued walking, ignoring its unrelenting assault. 

Our hair, our eyes were drenched in mist. 

Our feet kept sinking into the expanse of white sand. 

We kept walking, 

at times in circles, at times along the median. 

In just a short while, a thousand footprints arose 

amidst the glistening sand 

of your arid body, oh Dhaleshwari. 

Dhaleshwari, will you never learn 

who left these footprints? 

O full moon, O winter’s chill. 

the biting wind misty with winter’s fog, 

bear witness. 

If Dhaleshwari ever asks, 

tell her, 

three impressionable young men lovingly 

left behind these footprints. 

We walked with the lively steps of children, 

picking up fistfuls of sand, we spread it around. 

We knew one day this arid, barren river 

would be filled to the brim. 

Like the poems of Jibanananda, 

Dhaleshwari, the memory of your touch 

drifting on water, will travel across Bangladesh. 

each shoe gently in his left hand, and work 

his right hand from toe to heel, first along 

one side, then turn it around for the other. 

Putting one down to dry, he’d pick up 

the next, then clean, brush, and buff until 

they shone like new. How loving each stroke. 

When my thankless teens intervened, 

as they will, I withdrew from him who 

continued to shine his shoes, and go to work, 

and put one foot in front of the other. 

That summer of my eighteenth year, as I 

hungered for new adventures elsewhere, 

I found him hunched in the half dark hall 

polishing a pair of leather sandals—mine. 

Now that he is ten years gone, I recall how 

quiet was his love, how mute his farewell. 

(Reprinted from Not Elegy, but Eros with permission from 

Bengal Lights Books) 

With each other as witnesses, we walked over 

the shimmering sand 

far from civilization, 

Dhaleshwari, amidst your arid, desert-like vastness, 


Three young men will float to all corners of Bengal. 

(Reprinted from Selected Poems of Kamal Chowdhury with 

permission from Bengal Lights Books) 

ARTS & LETTERS 

31

32

Arts&amp;Letters November2017

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?

Arts&Letters November2017