Mahmud Rahman

Looks like some book. @diplomatofnight.com can you tell us which book? Or if not, what other source?

@pulpcurry.bsky.social

Explore Black literary NYC with this map of 100 important spots. This year is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, and the bookstore McNally Jackson put together a list of 100 places in New York’s five boroughs that were significant for Black literary c…

McNally Jackson has put together a list of 100 places in New York’s five boroughs significant to Black literary culture as a celebration of Black History Month’s 100th anniversary.

Wow. I had a feeling this was a mistake when I saw images of the other covers.

Just got a copy from our local library. Was surprised (pleasantly, in fact) to see a cover with Soju in Korean. The spine has it in English. Online I see covers with the English superimposed over the Korean. Somehow this edition was different.

I recall the Profumo affair. I was barely 10 in then East Pakistan & the news had arrived that our dictator Ayub Khan had attended one of the scandal-linked parties in Britain. His acolytes no doubt saw this as impressive. For me it was the first exposure to the nexus of sex, wealth, power.

Since the title was Westerners, I wondered if it would encompass more. Maybe we have yet to see films featuring new kinds of expats. My favorite real-life story from 15 years ago is one Asian origin British ambassador posted to the Asian country of his roots thinking he was the new sahib kingmaker

Watched the movie last night, then read your article. The film and your writing are very observant of that particular moment in Asia. You have an interesting list on Letterboxd that I'll have to explore. Question: were there films with these types of chars who were not white men?

Rolling with the Economic Tides | Vanessa Ogle Ian Kumekawa’s Empty Vessel follows the lifespan of one barge, from bunkhouse to floating prison to barracks and back, as it traces the shadowy outer limits of the maritime economy.

Vanessa Ogle (@vanessahistory.bsky.social) on how the life of a single barge—from floating prison to makeshift barracks to offshore bunkhouse—tells the story of the global economy

Remembering the Josephite Action Committee, 1969 During his visit to Dhaka in August 2025, writer Mahmud Rahman encountered a street art panel highlighting political discussions in schools. Reflecting on past student movements against dictatorshi…

On a visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, last August, I met my 15 year old self and he reminded me how movements that shake a nation can influence children in schools. I tried to recall how our ideas got shaped at that moment. alalodulal.org/2026/01/29/j...

Calling all translators of Southasian languages! Original submissions for Himal Fiction Fest 2026: Southasian Fiction in Translation are now open. Please help us to spread the word to applicants. Deadline: 1 April.

#SouthasianFiction #Translation #CallForSubmissions #SouthasianLiterature

His translations are still in print. This is one Bangla translation of Chariots of the Gods. Debotar Rath.

I hadn't realized he was still alive. I only had vague memories of his books while living in the U.S. in the 70s but when I spent some time in Bangladesh 16 years ago I learned about his impact in South Asia, both among those who read him with curiosity and others who greatly admired him.

Greetings from a rainy Philly day!

The Christmas Stevie Wonder Wanted - KOLUMN Magazine Inside Hitsville, a teenage prodigy, two Motown songwriters, and a producer with a clock in his head built an anti-war carol that still sounds like tomorrow.

'But “Someday at Christmas” ... arrives gently—strings, a winter hush—and then it does something that most Christmas songs refuse to do: it looks directly at the world’s violence and says, without metaphor, that it’s incompatible with the season’s promises.' www.kolumnmagazine.com/2025/12/25/t...

You might want to come visit Philadelphia.

Did he also park the car in the middle of the street and block traffic on Dickinson?

The Candy Lady Was the System - KOLUMN Magazine Across Black America, a front-room business became a neighborhood’s smallest, steadiest institution—priced in quarters and governed by respect.

"The Candy Lady was commerce braided into care—mutual aid with a price tag, childcare funded by snacks, block governance conducted in quarters.

And like most infrastructure in Black America, she was simultaneously ordinary and heroic." www.kolumnmagazine.com/2025/12/21/t...

Ian Fleming's James Bond spurred numerous imitations, including East Pakistan/Bangladesh's Masud Rana Agent MR-9, still continuing from Dhaka's Sheba publishers. Here Andrew Nette explores the response from the Soviet bloc. Knew nothing of this until this piece.

"If there is a collapse in Western societies, it is not merely a collapse of media or political structures. It is much worse. It may well be a collapse of the human personality."

Very true. I just began to read it and I realized I'll have to read it slower since there's so much here. One thing I want to do in 2016 is read more Nigerian literature.

“Paris Latino”: How Latin America Migrated to Europe - Public Books “Paris est la capitale de l’Amérique latine,” said Mexican essayist Carlos Fuentes

“Nicaraguan poet and lover of French letters Rubén Darío declared in his autobiography, 'I dreamed of Paris since my birth.'”

New at PB: Melanie Shi on the “Paris Latino.”

Somalis are the best. They ain't scared, just clowning on Trump. Read this.

I know someone who teaches there and I get periodic updates on the latest shenanigans. Depressing, but then I'm a Mills refugee.

ALL IMLS grants restored in every state & territory.

In response to a ruling from a federal judge in Rhode Island, the Institute of Museum and Library Services reinstated all previously canceled grants in every state and territory. It's a huge win for libraries and our communities.

"The reinstatement of all IMLS grants means that libraries across the country will be able to resume vital services for learning, imagination, and economic opportunity. We are breathing a sigh of relief, but the fight is not over." ALA President Sam Helmick. Show up for our libraries, American Library Association.

NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.

This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!

Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...

A 1971 Ladies’ Home Journal photoshoot of Norman Rockwell’s family at a Thanksgiving meal, recreating his 1943 painting “Freedom from Want”

My memoir-essay on growing up with Norman Rockwell Thanksgivings is up in Vogue this morning. Here’s a small extract: www.vogue.com/article/norm...

I can still remember going to see the movie The Harder They Come at the theater on Mass Ave in Cambridge Massachusetts, probably in 1974. Played the title song in my car many times on a cassette I used to have.

Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81 Star of The Harder They Come had hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want and I Can See Clearly Now

😔 I loved the songs and the film. Thank you, Jimmy.

More than 20 years ago, after some family deaths, I visited Bangladesh and took a trip to our father's village home. Before we left, I learned something awful in his history as a colonial policeman. The visit gave me the chance to confront his legacy and reflect on what home has come to mean to me.

Photo of a metal suitcase with a photo of an airplane and the words DDR and USSR

Some years back I saw this luggage displayed in a thrift store in California. They had a label, "USSR Cold War Defector Iron Curtain ... Rare... Taking offers."