Toynbee Hall's Resident Storyteller Shamim Azad will lead these free creative sessions for local people who are interested in submitting a story to our current Stories of 71 competition. She will work with you to identify the story you may wish to tell and support you to shape it into a written or spoken word piece, ready to submit to our current Stories of 71 competition.

This is part of our wider programme developed to honour the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence and its legacy by showcasing and spotlighting the experiences of local British Bengalis both at that time and beyond.

This workshop is for people living/working/studying in East London only.

Stories are portals, allowing us to access other places and times, forming bridges to better understand the world and ourselves. By giving space to share stories, we are hoping that we can learn from each other & together, and proudly say our experiences are important, worth being told and retold.

Shamim Azad is the best known Bengali poet and Storyteller in UK and published more than 37 books. She has received many recognitions from Bangladesh and UK including residency with A Poet’s Agora in Athens 2019 and UK Artist in the Community Award by National Lottery 2020.