“Book Descriptions: Moinul Ahsan Saber’s novel tells the story of Kobej Lethel, a ruthless soldier of fortune in the employ of a corrupt village chief, who must confront his own conscience when his employer sides with the Pakistan army in carrying out unspeakable atrocities during Bangladesh’s War of Independence. His transformation is not permanent, however, and at the end of the war, Kobej finds himself slipping back into his old ways.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Moinul Ahsan Saber is one of Bangladesh’s leading fiction writers, with a literary career spanning over three decades. Saber studied Sociology at the University of Dhaka and was the editor of the popular weekly magazine, Shaptahik 2000, before turning to writing full time in recent years. He first came into the limelight following the publication of his debut collection of short stories, Porasto Sahish, in 1982. Since then, he has written numerous novels and stories, including those for children. Saber’s work has received, among others, the Philips Literary Award, Bapi Shahriar Children’s Award, Humayun Qadir Literature Award, BRAC Bank Samakal Shahitya Puroshkar and Bangla Academy Shahitya Puroshkar.
About the Translator: A writer and translator from Bangladesh, Shabnam Nadiya completed her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2012. Currently she is working on her collection titled Pye Dogs and Magic Men: Stories, while translating Shaheen Akhtar’s novel Beloved Rongomala. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction International (WW Norton), Law and Disorder: Stories of Conflict and Crime (Main Street Rag Publishing), One World (New Internationalist) and journals such as Amazon’s Day One, Wasafiri, Words Without Borders, and Gulf Coast.” DRIVE