short story

FICTION / Metalheart

I know my engine is dying. I know that, by the time the next Eid rolls around, the busy little humans will have taken me apart to create something new.

FICTION / A sacrifice

When he was handing over the money to Naimuddin, their father, Kalam silently cried, holding Dholi’s neck in the yard.

FICTION / The burden of words

It was not often that I received odd parcels. True, my job at the paper did occasionally warrant a few peculiar hate-mail or rebuttals, but this was nothing of that sort

NEWS / Bangladeshi writer Faria Basher shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025

“An Eye and a Leg” has been described as "a darkly humorous and surreal take on the trope of the ‘expiring’ South Asian woman"

FICTION / Home for rent

Mrs X's parents were not interested in spending money on their daughter's room because they would have to give her new furniture when she got married

Fiction / Accursed

This is an excerpt from Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's short story "Abhishapta", translated by Dipty Rahman

FICTION / The vanishing Ramanujan

The night after the story got published, Jamal stormed to my home at around 11 PM, drenched in the rain. That was the first and only time Jamal raised his voice against me

FICTION / Leave of absence

“Residents usually get 30 days of observation period,” said the man at the reception, “but since it’s a leap year, you get an extra day.

FICTION / The hawk and the mice

Bolstered, the six little mice lead their army up–up–up the trunk of the poor, ravaged oak they were so desperate to save. 

November 30, 2024
November 30, 2024

The vanishing Ramanujan

The night after the story got published, Jamal stormed to my home at around 11 PM, drenched in the rain. That was the first and only time Jamal raised his voice against me

November 9, 2024
November 9, 2024

Leave of absence

“Residents usually get 30 days of observation period,” said the man at the reception, “but since it’s a leap year, you get an extra day.

November 6, 2024
November 6, 2024

The hawk and the mice

Bolstered, the six little mice lead their army up–up–up the trunk of the poor, ravaged oak they were so desperate to save. 

September 25, 2024
September 25, 2024

Alone beneath the mountains

His final sentiments were etched into the table before he succumbed to his final rest: "I found solace in the mountains. They demanded nothing and remained steadfast by my side."

June 29, 2024
June 29, 2024

Storm child

You must have heard the story of your birth a thousand times by now, sweetheart. Your mother and I—home alone.

June 15, 2024
June 15, 2024

After the rain

Again, I wasn’t a poet, but words and sentences jumbled up seeing that small face, light make-up enhancing her beauty. A loose strand of hair cascaded down her cheek, framing her face.

June 1, 2024
June 1, 2024

After the rain

While leaving the institute, a nurse gave me a packet of cigarettes as a token of friendship

May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024

Hair cream

The mosque committee was quite displeased with Rashed, their young muezzin.

April 28, 2024
April 28, 2024

Insomnia

You are wide awake again

April 27, 2024
April 27, 2024

The man who dug his own grave

Everyone gathered around the east end of the Shashipur to watch Sharafat Miah dig his own grave. The local kids lurked around Sharafat’s old hut, keeping a watch on the progress of the grave until their mothers came to pick them up after Maghrib.