For the eighth and final workshop in our ‘Translating Lewisham’ series, we will be looking at poems by Bangladeshi poet Nirmalendu Goon with returning guest translator Shamim Azad. Part of the generation of poets who came to prominence in the 1960s, Nirmalendu Goon’s passionate poetry contains stinging criticism of the nouveau riche and a call to arms for the poor majority. Poet April Yee will be facilitating.
There is no need to know the language being translated, just come along!
Nirmalendu Goon is one of the most popular Bangladeshi poets, known for his accessible verse. His first book of poetry was published in 1970. Since then he has published forty-five collections of poetry and twenty collections of prose. An avowed Marxist, Goon has also written poems urging an upheaval of the poor against the rich. He also has written a number of poems on important personalities, including Rabindranath, Sheikh Mujib, Lenin, Shakti Chattopadhyay and others.
Shamim Azad is a British bilingual poet, storyteller and writer of Bangladeshi origin. Her 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. She has published books including novels, collections of short stories, essays and poems in both English and Bengali 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 has written two plays for Half Moon Theatre. She is a trustee of charity One World Action, a school Governor and Chairperson of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra (World Literature Centre) London.
April Yee is a National Book Critics Circle Emerging Critics Fellow, editor-in-residence at The Georgia Review, and the University of East Anglia’s Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Scholar. A Harvard and Tin House alumna, she reported in more than a dozen countries before moving to the UK, where she reads for Liminal Transit Review and mentors for University of the Arts London’s Refugee Journalism Project. In 2021, she was the winner of the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference Contest in nonfiction and shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize, the Women’s Prize Trust’s Discoveries, and the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. She tweets at @aprilyee.
Social Prescribing
You can attend our Translating Lewisham workshops for free via Lewisham’s Social Prescribing service. Social prescribing helps to improve your well-being by connecting you to non-medical support in the community. To refer yourself or someone else to the service head over to the One Health Lewisham website and fill in a simple form.
Lewisham Borough of Culture
This project is supported by the Lewisham Borough of Culture scheme, a year-long programme of events that puts Lewisham and its community in the spotlight, focusing on the themes of diversity and climate change, encouraging locals and visitors to take action.
Season Pass
You can get a great value season pass giving you access to all eight workshops in our Translating Lewisham series at a lower price: £110.00 for general admission or £70.00 concession for students, the unwaged or Lewisham residents. The discount means you will be getting on workshop for free.
