Photo of Marshall Savage at Kobi Nazrul Centre (2025)
Marshall Savage, also known as Mijan, is a Bangladeshi-British queer person from Bow. Marshall is passionate about LGBTQ+ rights and welfare not warfare. Marshall doesn’t come from a creative or academic background, but he loves learning new skills and embracing new experiences wherever they lead him. He is the newest member of our East Storytelling Project.
After a late evening of rehearsals for our latest East production EAST TO ELSEWHERE, local trade unionist Marshall and assistant producer Tasnim sat at Chaiwalla on Brick Lane with a coffee and roti to talk about the East End, activism and the importance of sharing stories of migrant women.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Marshall, I’m born and raised in Tower Hamlets, in Bow specifically. I work for Tower Hamlets and I’m also a Trade unionist. I’m very heavily involved in activism, especially local activism and organising against the far right
Fun fact?
I am obsessed with vampires.
What makes the East End such a rich source of stories?
The East End is an amazing place; it was always seen as the armpit of London, where all the immigrants were shoved that no one wanted to deal with, from the Jews to the Irish to now the Bengalis. We have this incredible knack of creating a community wherever we are. Now Tower Hamlets and the East End are probably the most diverse cultural places in London, if not the world.
And how does your specific heritage influence the way you see the East End?
The way my parents migrated into this country and the struggles they faced, and me being an immigrant and queer, made me realise what it means to fight for equality, to fight for what’s right and look into the intersection of what it means to be a brown queer person.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling is sharing really important parts of your life, it doesn’t have to be word to word, it doesn’t have to be fact by fact, it’s how we interpret how we experience life. It matters because it’s the best way to share information, look at history, travellers, they are the best way to tell stories, how we connect with people, how we get people from different places to understand each other.
Why is it important to tell your mum’s story?
I feel like a lot of women of colour came here slightly unheard. My mum came here without any connections, she had to build her own community and that is a story worth telling, it is the story of many mothers and many women who came not just to London or England but who migrated to other parts of the country or other parts of the world, who stuck out and didn’t have a voice for themselves.
What has been your experience of the East Storytelling Project so far?
I walked in there not knowing what to expect. I thought I’d see more brown faces. 2 Jewish men, a beautiful black woman, 2 beautiful brown women, I saw people from different lives and experiences all encapsulating what the East End is.
Recommendation of a book that relates to East London?
One of the books I am reading right now is called United Queerdom by Dan Glass, who was a HIV activist and East End local. It talks about the East End struggle, the queer struggle and ongoing battles to fight for equality.