Welcome to my website and blog. I write fiction and nonfiction, and a few years ago I also branched out to translate Bangla fiction into English.

I’m excited to announce that my first book, a collection of stories titled Killing the Water, will be published by Penguin India. As more details become available, I’ll post them on the Book page.

Navigation

This site should be easy to navigate. Under Fiction, you can read a few of my published short stories. The Nonfiction page includes links to essays, memoir, and book reviews. In some articles, I combine personal narratives with reflections on the history of Dhaka and Bangladesh. On the Translation page, you’ll find translated stories. On all these pages, I mark recent items with a “New” tag in red.

If you have the time, do check out my Weblog. When I started it in 2005, I meant to post random jottings on life in this “cruel, crazy, beautiful world” — the title of a lovely song from Johnny Clegg and Savuka. It was right after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in the U.S. and I started out commenting on hurricanes and troubled waters. I’ve continued, with articles on writing and books, culture and society, and what I notice on my travels. The best way to learn of new posts is to subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed.

Now using WordPress

This website has gone through several incarnations since I launched it in the summer of 2004. Four years later, I’ve decided to use WordPress to organize my website. WordPress is free, it can be used to manage both a website and blog, and it seems easy to set up and use. I’m new at this, so there might be some hiccups here and there. Let me know if you run into problems, and I hope you like the new look.

Do come back. And drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.