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INTERVIEW
Women in publishing
ILLUSTRATION: Salman Sakib Shahryar
The publishing and literary world in Bangladesh have considerable visibility of women: some are authoritative figures in the literary and academic world, some run their own establishments and bookshops; others occupy senior positions in many of the local publishing houses and literary committees. However, like the systems and society we currently operate in, this industry is also influenced by the larger patriarchal structure. A representation of whether women face gendered experiences in the industry can be found in the fact that I am the only female member to sit on the board of the Academic and Creative Publishers Association , says Mahrukh Mohiuddin, Managing Director of UPL Publications. Other than Mahrukh, the 21 other executive committee members are men.
A Review of Fakrul Alam’s
Once More Into the Past: Essays, Personal, Public, and Literary BY Sohana Manzoor BY Sohana Manzoor How does Tagore intoxicate a growing young man . . . .? How has Dhaka transitioned through the Partition of Bengal and the birth of the University of Dhaka? . . . . how does one remember with nuance, with style icons of history and culture . . . .? I have this habit of stopping mid-stride while reading a book and looking at the last pages as well as the book jacket, tracing the cover design and reading the blurbs. The quoted sentences are from the jacket of Fakrul Alam s collection of essays, entitled
THE BIRTH OF BANGLADESH IN BOOKS
Prelude to a national disintegration
After half a century from where we began, Daily Star Books will spend all of this year the 50th year of Bangladesh revisiting, celebrating, and analyzing some of the books that played pivotal roles in documenting the Liberation War of 1971 and the birth of this nation.
When the country of Pakistan emerged at the end of British rule in the subcontinent, it did so with a purpose to unify two distinctly different regions into a single nation with a common ideology, culture, politics, and economy. It failed horribly, as we all know. Indeed, political scientist Rupert Emerson correctly pointed out, by the accepted criteria of nationhood there was in fact no such thing as a Pakistani nation. But why was this the case? Rounaq Jahan explores the issue of Pakistan s failure to achieve its purpose in her book,
Country Director, The Asia Foundation
The pandemic has given us the rare opportunity to have some room for reflection. In our usual fast-paced life, we never really had much of an opportunity to pause and reflect our life and decisions. This is therefore a great opportunity for learning at an individual level. On the other hand, organisations can also use this time to analyse their existing issues and figure out how they can solve them going forward.
We must learn about the entire ecosystem and not just restrict ourselves to our own sector. If one feels like they lack skills in a certain field, they should always reach out to someone with the relevant knowledge or enrol in a course.