Shamim Azad ( bn, শামীম আজাদ; born 11 November 1952) Upcoming Events is a Bangladeshi-born British

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

poet, storyteller and writer.

Early life

Azad was born in

Mymensingh Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) (the town where her father worked), her hometown was

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...

. She passed her SSC from Jamalpur Girls High School in 1967 and passed her Intermediate from

Tangail Tangail ( bn, টাঙ্গাইল, ), is a major city within the Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh. It sits on the bank of the Louhajang River, north-west of Dhaka, the nation's capital. It is considered to be the main urban area of ...

Kumudini College Kumudini Government College ( bn, কুমুদিনী সরকারী কলেজ), also called Kumudini Mohila College, located in Tangail, is a women's college affiliated with Bangladesh National University. The college was established ...

in 1969. She enrolled in

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

and gained an

Honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...

in 1972 and a master's degree in 1973. In 1990, Azad came to England. Shamim Azad

Career

Azad's work ranges from Bangladeshi to European folktales. Her performance fuses the lines between education and entertainment and her workshops are rooted in Asian folk, oral traditions and heritage. The Poets: Shamim Azad Azad has published 37 books including novels, collections of short stories, essays and poems in both English and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and has been included in various anthologies including ''British South Asian Poetry'', ''My Birth Was Not in Vain'', ''Velocity'', ''Emlit Project'' and ''Mother Tongues''. She wrote two plays for

Half Moon Theatre The Half Moon Theatre Company was formed in 1972 in a rented synagogue in Alie Street, Whitechapel, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ''Half Moon Passage'' was the name of a nearby alley. The founders, Michael Irving and Maurice Colbourn ...

. She has worked with composers

Richard Blackford Richard Blackford (born 13 January 1954 in London, England) is an English composer. Biography Richard Blackford PhD studied composition with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music and conducting with Norman Del Mar. He was awarded the Mend ...

Kerry Andrew Kerry Andrew (born 5 April 1978) is an English composer, performer and author. She has a PhD in Composition from the University of York and is the winner of four British Composer Awards. Her debut novel, ''Swansong'', was published by Vintage ...

, choreographer Rosemary Lee, visual artist Robin Whitemore and playwright Mary Cooper. She has performed at venues including the

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...

, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cambridge Water Stone,

Liberty Radio Liberty Radio is a UK radio broadcaster and company based in London, England that, , is transmitted free to air from the Astra 2F satellite at 28.2° East to most of Europe, and on the Internet, but not on analog or DAB terrestrial radio. . Li ...

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade ...

Lauderdale House Lauderdale House is an historic house, now run as an arts and education centre, based in Waterlow Park, Highgate in north London, England. History Lauderdale House was one of the finest country houses in Highgate and was originally built for R ...

, the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust is a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pro ...

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, British Council of Bangladesh, Takshila in Pakistan and New York. Volume 2, Issue 31 Her residencies have included,

Tower Hamlets Summer University Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU) is a British charity in the Tower Hamlets area of London which offers independent learning programs for people from 11 to 25 years of age. It rebranded to the name Futureversity in 2010. Projects Holid ...

, Sunderland City Library and Arts Centre, East Side Arts,

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

, Magic Me,

Rich Mix Rich Mix is a charity that offers cinema and cross-arts centre that is located in the East End of London, located in Shoreditch in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London, England. Once a vast leather factory, 62,000-square-foot building was t ...

, Kinetika,

Bromley by Bow Centre The Bromley by Bow Centre is a community centre in Bromley-by-Bow, in the East End of London. It was founded by Andrew Mawson, Baron Mawson, Andrew Mawson in 1984 alongside community members such as Chilean artist Santiago Bell, with the aim of t ...

, Half Moon Theatre, and

Apples and Snakes Apples and Snakes, based at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, south-east London, is an organisation for performance poetry and the spoken word in England. It has been described as the main organisation promoting performance poetry in Britain. S ...

. Azad is a trustee of Rich Mix in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

, founder chair of

Bishwo Shahitto Kendro Bishwo Shahitto Kendro (BSK) ( bn, বিশ্ব সাহিত্য কেন্দ্র, meaning 'World-Literature Centre'), is a non-profit institution in Bangladesh to promote reading habits, enlightenment and progressive ideas among st ...

(World Literature Centre UK) in London. She is part of the East storytelling group, which invites local residents to join in sharing some of the stories brought together by the Eastend's rich, diverse history of immigration.

Awards

Azad received the Bangladesh "Bichitra Award" in 1994, "Year of the Artist" Award from

London Arts The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain History As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in the 1950s, regional offices ...

in 2000, "Sonjojon- A Rouf" Award in 2004, and UK "Civic Award" in 2004. Community Champions Award in 2014 by Canary Wharf group PLC. In 2016, she was awarded "

Syed Waliullah Syed Waliullah (August 15, 1922 – October 10, 1971) was a Bangladeshi novelist, short-story writer and playwright. He was notable for his debut novel, '' Lalsalu'' (translated in English with the title ''"Tree Without Roots"''). He was awarded ...

Literature Award"2016, which is conferred by the

Bangla Academy The Bangla Academy ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি, ) is an autonomous institution funded by the Bangladesh government to foster the Bengali language, literature and culture, to develop and implement national language policy and to d ...

Personal life

Azad lives in

Wanstead Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge, London, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is ...

, Redbridge, London.

Works

Novel and stories

Poetry

Children's literature and drama

Poetry collections and translations

References

External links

* * Mahboob, Mahdin
Creative Writing Workshop @ BRAC University by Shamim Azad
''Star Campus'' ('' The Daily Star''), Volume 2, Issue 31, 12 August 2007 * Kvist, Elsie
Author Shamim Azad helps children mark the end of London Games at Three Mills in Bromley-by-bow
''

East London Advertiser The ''East London Advertiser'' is a weekly local newspaper in east London, England covering primarily the borough of Tower Hamlets. It was formed in late 2011 by Archant's merging of ''The Docklands'' and the ''East London Advertiser''. The ''Ea ...

''. 10 September 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Azad, Shamim 1952 births Living people 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century British poets 21st-century British poets 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers British Muslims Bangladeshi emigrants to England British women novelists British people of Bangladeshi descent Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Bangladeshi women writers Bangladeshi writers British Asian writers Bangladeshi women poets British women poets Muslim poets Bengali-language poets English-language poets Writers from London People from Mymensingh District People from Wanstead