Shaheen Akhtar wins Asian Literary Award 2020

She remembers the wetlands, with their mystery and darkness, across which her young brother Montu and she fled to escape the violence. She remembers the day her brother walked away, never to be seen again, lost to the war which claimed many ambitious, idealistic, patriotic young men, swallowing them up before they even knew the meaning of war. Originally published in Bengali, Talaash was awarded the Prothom Alo literary prize in 2004.