Small World City: Reimagining reality through literature

In August 2023, returning from France after completing his master's degree in creative writing, Mehrul Bari teamed up with two friends and launched Small World City, one of Bangladesh's first English-language-based literary magazines on speculative fiction. 

Almost two years later, Small World City has published eight successful issues, the latest one in May 2025. It has quickly garnered a reputation among literature fans in Bangladesh for the quality of its publications, along with the striking artwork of its online magazine.

Small World City began with Mehrul Bari as the editor-in-chief, Shehrin Hossain as Deputy Editor, Zareen Tasnim Bushra as Creative Consultant and Farhia Tabassum as Communications Director. Over time, the magazine has brought more talented young fiction writers into its fold, with Zahra Mayeesha becoming the Associate Editor, and Asmita Mehefin acting as First Reader.

Although Small World City's mission statement is to showcase local talented writers, they also accept works from international writers. They publish fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Additionally, they also hold regular workshops and writers' meets, providing a platform for local writers to connect.

In order to learn about the inspiration behind the launch of Small World City and its contributions to Bangladesh's literary scene, The Business Standard sat down with Mehrul Bari, and two of the new additions to the team, Zahra and Asmita.

Inspiration behind the launch

As a young child, Mehrul was drawn to science fiction movies such as 'Terminator 2' and the 'Alif Laila,' which is where his love for speculative fiction first developed. As he grew older, he became an avid reader, being motivated by Dhaka's literary scene. 

Mehrul felt inspired by local English publications, such as Six Seasons Review and platforms such as LitFest. However, when Covid hit, a gap appeared in the literary scene.

However, he realised there was a gap in the literary scene. "During Covid, most of these platforms and publications went on a break, and this left a gaping hole in the market. I saw the potential for a regular magazine and the need for it. This motivated me to launch Small World City," shared Mehrul.

Despite his desire to launch a speculative magazine, Mehrul was not yet equipped with the skills to do so. As such, he decided to pursue an MA abroad to hone his skills, improve his writing, confidence, and gain qualifications. He intentionally chose a master's in Arts rather than a master's in Fine Arts, as the former would allow him to gain both writing and research skills.

After graduating from the University of Kent, Mehrul approached Shehreen and Farhia to help him launch the magazine. Mehrul emphasised that the project was only possible because of the hard work of the entire team.

Helping local writers

While submissions are accepted from international writers, local writers get priority. 

"We have a set number of submissions we will accept for each issue. So, we focus on the writings sent by local authors first. Once we are satisfied with our picks, we look at international writers, given that there is enough space," Mehrul states.

Small World City's primary goal is to increase activity in the literary writing scene in Bangladesh. They hope to bring in non-regular readers through their magazine. This is why it was important to launch magazine issues regularly and to have workshops and writers' meets. 

Mehrul states, "We had a writer's meet in January 2025. We received great feedback from the writers. It was like group therapy for them."

Mehrul believes that because the speculative fiction scene is still relatively small, writers do not always know other writers. Getting to know their peers through the meet was a great way for these young writers to learn and improve their craft. He says, "You are never writing for yourself. You are writing for an audience. So, it is crucial to talk to more readers and writers. I wanted to facilitate that."

Through helping young writers flourish, Mehrul discovered that he loves teaching. He recently joined North South University as a lecturer in the English Literature department.

Small World City has also recently launched a Facebook group for writers to discuss ideas with each other, providing them with a space to meet like-minded individuals.

In fact, it was through these workshops that Small World City discovered Zahra and Asmita, who would impress the editor so much that they were offered a position in the editorial team.

Asmita, First Reader for Small World City, says, "The workshop really helped me improve as a writer and get me published in another magazine, which in turn has helped my career."

Asmita goes on to state, "All the skills I have learned from working here are transferable. I have also become more empathetic, more serious as a reader, and more conscious as a writer."

Similarly, Zahra Mayeesha, the Associate Editor, also joined the team after a workshop. 

"I started as a slush reader for the magazine. I also help with editing accepted submissions. I have gotten very good at reading and assessing stories quickly, figuring out what works and what does not. This has been very helpful for my studies as well, now that I am doing a Master's in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Columbia."

Local and global impact

One of the advantages of having an online magazine is that the potential reach of Small World City goes beyond the country's borders. However, to be able to curate an international readership, the editorial team knew that they had to produce quality content consistently.

As Zahra explains, "The work we publish must stand out in terms of speculation, whether that is in character, premise, narrative technique or structure. A writer with a unique style always stands out."

However, the team knew that an online magazine needed more than just quality writing to stand out. It has to appear legitimate in terms of aesthetics. This is where Small World City really caught people's attention.

The team initially wanted the magazine to have an air of mystery, positioning the magazine at the forefront rather than the individual members. Mehrul worked very hard on the magazine's artwork, ensuring it caught the audience's attention and built intrigue the moment someone opened the webpage.

Mehrul added elements of art and music to the magazine, creating a truly multifaceted site, and drawing both local and international attention.

"I wanted a platform with an exchange of views. If we offered printed issues, they would only be circulated locally.This way, due to the aesthetics of the magazine, along with the quality, I was surprised to find out that Hong Kong had become one of our biggest readers, praising our site and artwork," Mehrul shared.

According to him, his biggest hope of reaching an international audience is to normalise Bangladeshi literature on the global scene, "Internationally, Bangladesh is just seen as a third-world country. I want to change that perception by showing them what we write about. I want to show them that the interiority of our lives is just as rich as theirs."