Dhaka Lit Fest (also known as Dhaka Literary Festival or DLF) is an annual literary festival held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Since 2012, it has been held every November in the grounds of Bangla Academy with sessions held over three days, primarily in English.
Dhaka Lit Fest began as The Hay Festival Dhaka with the support of the British Council Dhaka in 2011.
In 2015, its current three directors, Sadaf Saaz, Ahsan Akbar and Kazi Anis Ahmed, renamed the festival as "Dhaka Lit Fest" to "mark its commitment to promoting Dhaka, and Bangladeshi literature and culture to the world." [1] [2]
After the July 2016 Dhaka attack, the festival suffered 19 international cancellations. [3] Despite that, the organizers held the festival to show that Bangladesh could still hold an international cultural festival in the face of terrorism. [4] Casey Quackenbush wrote that, "Bangladesh, where independent bloggers and journalists have increasingly become targets of violence, the Dhaka Literary Festival has become a symbol of defiance." [5] That year, the headline author was the Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. [6]
In 2017, Dhaka Lit Fest was chosen to host the awarding of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. [7] The winner was Anuk Arudpragasam for his novel, The Story of a Brief Marriage. [8]
The festival was initiated by Bangladeshi writers Sadaf Saaz, Tahmima Anam, Ahsan Akbar and Kazi Anis Ahmed as Hay Festival Dhaka. [2] As of 2015 [update] , its directors are Sadaf Saaz (also producer), Ahsan Akbar and Kazi Anis Ahmed. [1]
Notable international guests include V. S. Naipul, Amitav Ghosh, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Adunis, Shashi Tharoor, William Dalrymple (historian), Tilda Swinton, Marcel Theroux, Lionel Shriver, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Mohammed Hanif, Nandita Das, Monica Ali, HM Naqvi, Tishani Doshi, Swapnamoy Chakraborty, James Meek (author), Jude Kelly, and Jon Snow (journalist), among many others.
Prominent Bangladeshi guests include: Asaduzzaman Noor, Syed Manzoorul Islam, Imdadul Haq Milan, Kaiser Haq, Selina Hossain, Aly Zaker, Shaheen Akhtar, Nishat Majumdar, Raja Devasish Roy, and Muktasree Chakmaamong, among many others.
DLF has been praised both locally and internationally for its commitment to cultural exchange, freedom of expression and a balance of international and Bengali cultures. [3] [9] [10] [11] [4] The festival's sponsors have been commended for ensuring DLF is free to attend and well-organized. [12]
Some observers have described DLF organizers as Anglophile bourgeois who are the agents of neo-imperial western hegemony in Bangladesh and speculate that they initiated the event to promote themselves as writers in English and groom their own fandom in Dhaka. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] In response, the organizers point to the significant number of Bengali-language (and other local indigenous Bangladeshi languages [18] ) panels, the fact that attendance is free, as well as its celebration of local Bangladeshi literary figures and publishing houses. [19] This view is supported by guests and journalists attending the festival. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]
Kazi Nazrul Islam, also known as the Rebel Poet, was a popular Bengali poet, writer and lyrist born in Churulia district of Bengal Presidency who moved to Bangladesh and took Bangladeshi citizenship after the independence of Bangladesh He was a poet, writer, musician, and is the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul produced a large body of poetry, music, messages, novels, and stories with themes that included equality, justice, anti-imperialism, humanity, rebellion against oppression and religious devotion. Nazrul Islam's activism for political and social justice as well as writing a poem titled as "Bidrohī", meaning "the rebel" in Bengali, earned him the title of "Bidrohī Kôbi". His compositions form the avant-garde music genre of Nazrul Gīti.
Nazrul Sangeet, also Nazrul Geeti, refers to the songs written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul Geeti incorporate revolutionary notions as well as more spiritual, philosophical and romantic themes. Nazrul wrote and composed nearly 4,000 songs, which are widely popular in Bangladesh and India. Some of the most notable Nazrul Sangeet include Notuner Gaan, the national marching song of Bangladesh and O Mon Romzaner Oi Rozar Sheshe, an Islamic song on the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The Bangla Academy is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language, literature and culture, works to develop and implement national language policy and conducts original research in Bengali. Established in 1955, it is located in the Burdwan House in Shahbagh, Dhaka, within the grounds of the University of Dhaka and Suhrawardy Udyan. The Bangla Academy hosts the annual Ekushey Book Fair.
Tauquir Ahmed is a Bangladeshi architect and actor, turned director in both television and cinema. His films won many international and national awards including Bangladesh National Film Awards in the Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Story categories for the films Joyjatra (2004) and Oggatonama (2016).
Dhaka International Film Festival is a biennial film festival held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1992, the festival was initially organized on annual basis, but became a biennial event since 1995.
The Dhaka Tribune is a major Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper based in Dhaka, the country's capital and largest city. It also operates an online portal known as the Bangla Tribune. The newspaper has a strong readership in Bangladeshi cities, particularly among the young generation, the diplomatic community, and expatriates; as well as a wide readership in South Asia and internationally. The newspaper is notable for its highly diverse op-ed content, with contributions from leading Bangladeshi, South Asian and international columnists.
The Dhaka School of Economics (DScE) is an undergraduate and postgraduate institution of the University of Dhaka. DScE was founded in April 2010, following the model of the London School of Economics, to promote higher studies and research in economics and related subjects. Its goal is to accommodate the fast-growing demand for well-trained economists and professionals in related subjects, to contribute to teaching, research and evaluation, policymaking and implementation of nation-building programs. DscE has developed a Socio-Economic Data Bank to accomplish this goal.
Kazi Anis Ahmed is a Bangladeshi writer, publisher and businessman. He is a co-founder and publisher of the English-language daily newspaper Dhaka Tribune, online news portal Bangla Tribune and the literary journal Bengal Lights. Ahmed is the author of three works of fiction. He is a co-director of the annual Bangladeshi literary festival, Dhaka Lit Fest.
Amitabh Reza Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi filmmaker. In his career, he has directed nearly fifteen hundred (1500) television commercials. Amitabh has also directed a few television films to critical acclaim. He founded the production house 'half stop down', which mainly produces TVCs. Amitabh's directorial debut in theatrical feature film is Aynabaji which was released on 30 September 2016.
Dhaka Attack is a Bangladeshi police action thriller film produced by Bangladesh Police Paribar Kallyan Samity Ltd., Three Wheelers Ltd. and Splash Multimedia. It features Arifin Shuvoo, Mahiya Mahi, ABM Sumon and Taskeen Rahman in lead roles. It was directed by Dipankar Dipon and written by Sunny Sanwar. The film was distributed by The Abhi Kathachitra and Swapna Scarecrow. The film won the "Best Film" award in 42nd Bangladesh National Film Awards.
Syed Akram Hossain is a Bangladeshi academic scholar. He is known for his research and analysis of Rabindranath Tagore's work, which makes him an important part of Bangladesh literature. He was awarded Rabindra Purushkar in 2016 by the Bangla Academy and Ekushey Padak in 2017 by the Government of Bangladesh in the research category.
Habibur Rahman is a Bangladeshi police officer. He is the 35th Commissioner of DMP. Prior to join here he was head of the Tourist Police. From 2019 to 2022, he was Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dhaka Range, and DIG of administration & discipline at the police headquarters in Dhaka.
Dhaka City Football Club is a football team from Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club currently a team of the Bangladesh Championship League.
Sincerely Yours, Dhaka is a 2018 Impress Telefilm drama film produced as Bangladesh's first anthology film directed by eleven individual directors. It is a collection of gritty shorts centered on the capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka, and the people living in its margins. It was awarded "Best Original Screenplay" at the 11th edition of the Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF), held in India in January 2019. It is one of the first two films to enter Netflix originating from Bangladesh. It was selected as the Bangladeshi entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It was also screened at 51st International Film Festival of India in January 2021 in Country in focus section.
Ripon Nath is a Bangladeshi audio engineer. He won Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Sound Recording four times for the films Chorabali (2012), Aynabaji (2016), Dhaka Attack (2017) and Fagun Haway (2019).
Firdous Azim is a professor of English at BRAC University, a literary critic, and a women's rights activist. She is the chairperson of the Department of English and Humanities at BRAC University. She is a member of Naripokkho.
Ruhul Amin Bangladeshi Deobandi is an Islamic scholar and educator. He is currently serving as the Khatib of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque of Bangladesh in the capacity of State Minister. He is the Muhtamim of Gowhardanga Madrasa.
Dhaka–Jessore line is a 172 km long under construction broad gauge railway. It is being constructed under the Ministry of Railways, Government of Bangladesh. The line will connect the capital of Bangladesh to Jessore via Dhaka District, Narayanganj District, Munshiganj District, Shariatpur District, Madaripur District, Faridpur District, Gopalganj District, Bangladesh, and Narail District. It is a project related to Padma Bridge.
S M kayum is a Bangladeshi filmmaker, screenwriter and poet. His work addresses such themes as deception-hypocrisy, urban youth romance, middle class angst, and frailty of individual. He has been a director and screenwriter since 2017.
