Tag Archives: EastStorytelling
Events Participation

Call for Emerging Bengali Storytellers: East to Elsewhere on the theme of KINDNESS

By on Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Photo by Rehan Jamil

Do you have a story to tell about kindness? We’re looking for Bengali storytellers from Tower Hamlets. If you have a story about acts of kindness, migration or how Tower Hamlets has shaped your life, we want to hear from you! This callout is for people with little or no professional experience in storytelling.

About the Project: We’re thrilled to announce East to Elsewhere, a new storytelling event celebrating the theme of Kindness from the EAST Project. This project will explore the rich history and diverse cultures of Tower Hamlets through stories of migration, community support, and kindness—especially stories of kindness shown by migrant communities to newcomers such as refugees and asylum seekers.

The kind of thing that we are looking for:

  • Stories about acts of kindness within migrant communities in Tower Hamlets.
  • Experiences of newcomers, especially refugees and asylum seekers.
  • Historical migration stories linked to East London.
  • Contemporary stories about migration today.
  • Personal stories – if you feel like sharing!
  • Stories that reflect the awesome diversity of East London and Tower Hamlets.

Eligibility:

Are you Bengali?

Do you have a connection to Tower Hamlets?

Are you interested in telling stories?

Are you new to storytelling?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, and are NOT a professional storyteller, we invite you to pitch your story!

Key Details:

Fee: £175 

Apply (by email):

Send a max 250-word pitch by email, including: your name, phone number, and your connection to Tower Hamlets. Email us here.

If your story pitch is successful, we’ll give you a call to tell us about yourself and why you selected your story.

There will also be an open mic on the night of the performance. Everyone is welcome to share a story or try some new material with us on the night! Traditional storytelling, a real-life story, spoken word… as long as it’s narrative, and relates to the theme of kindness. Sign-up in person on the night.

Event Date: Friday 14th November 2025, 7.30PM as part of A Season of Bangla Drama. Tickets can be booked here.

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Events Participation Partners and Collaborators

Ten Years East: a huge thank you!

By on Monday, December 4, 2023

Massive thanks to our wonderfully supportive audience, to Ruksana Begum and all at A Season at Bangla Drama, to Jack Birch, John Anthony and the rest of the Rich Mix Team, to Maeve O’Neill at Rua Arts, to our sponsors and funders, and of course to all our incredible artists.

The show was filmed by Marble Sinew and photographed by A Season of Bangla Drama regular Rehan Jamil. But first, let us share the wonderful reel made by Nabeela Zaman:

Next, the official pics from Rehan:

Here’s the video of the show, filmed and edited by Marble Sinew:

Finally, some photos by Jonathan Chan and Kanatip Soonthornrak, and a picture, again by Rehan, of Shamim and Paul being presented with an award for being part of the 20th year of A Season of Bangla Drama.

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Events Major Projects Participation

Daedalus November Newsletter

By on Saturday, November 18, 2023

Dear friends,

Welcome to our November newsletter.

Image credit: montage by Paul Burgess using photos by Simon Daw and Rehan Jamil

Ten Years East

With A Season of Bangla Drama nearing its halfway point, and our next show, Ten Years East, just over a week away, we’d like to tell you more about the exciting line-up we have brought together for you.

Farah Naz is a poet and Deputy Director of The British Bilingual Poetry Collective. She was part of the original East group, and some of her stories can be seen on our East Archive, as can John Heyderman’s remarkable story of his father’s escape from Nazi Germany: Two Gold Rings. John will be sharing a Jewish story, and Farah will tell a tale from the Muslim tradition.

Our two lead storytellers, both of whom have been at the heart of the East project since the start, will also be performing. Shamim Azad is a highly celebrated writer, poet and storyteller here in East London and in Bangladesh, while Sef Townsend, an internationally acclaimed storyteller, has told stories around the world, from refugee camps to festivals. They will be joined by Tasnim Siddiqa Amin, Daedalus’s assistant director and producer. Tasnim is a theatremaker, critic and artist, and has a script-reading of one of her own plays later today as part of the festival programme: Knotted.

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