International Mother Language Day, February 21st, is a kind of well-intentioned bureaucratic expansion of the Bangladesh observance of National Martyrs Day, a remembrance of the day in 1952 when five people were killed for protesting their right to speak Bengali (Bangla) rather than Urdu, the official language of the new state of Pakistan. What came … Continue reading International Mother (Written) Language Day
International YALit Month: I Remember Abbu
I Remember Abbu by Humayun Azad, translated by Arunava Sinha, interior illustrations by Sabyasachi Mistry I Remember Abbu by Bangladeshi writer Humayun Azad is a short novel about a loving father-daughter relationship, but also a book about loss and memory. The narrator, a girl or young adult woman remembers her early childhood, and especially her … Continue reading International YALit Month: I Remember Abbu
