Submissions sought for international writing competition My City, My Home

Sampad South Asian Arts and Heritage, one of the UK’s leading arts development agencies, has launched “My City, My Home”, an international writing competition for women and girls from diverse communities in Birmingham (UK), Bangladesh and Pakistan.

According to a press release, the competition is open to women and girls aged 16 and over and can be a response to, or a reflection on the phrase “My City, My Home”. The closing date for entries is December 30, 2020. Run online, women can enter a poem, short-story, or other prose.  A maximum of two pieces of work can be entered and will be accepted in English, Urdu, and Bangla languages.  

Full details on how to submit entries, visit www.sampad.org.uk/project/mycitymyhome2020/

Emerging female writer Shazia Omar, and cultural activists Lubna Marium, Sharmila Banerjee and Jyoti Sinha are supporting Sampad in Bangladesh and have arranged workshops about the competition for interested participants.  

“My City, My Home” is part of Transforming Narratives, a ground-breaking three-year project to establish Birmingham as a global centre for contemporary arts from Pakistan and Bangladesh.  Piali Ray OBE., Director of Sampad said:

 “The identity and role of women is as diverse across cities and countries as is 21^st century society. Cities are a melting pot of cosmopolitan cultures, yet there is a distinctiveness and roots that connect to the past. By launching MY CITY, MY HOME in what is Sampad’s 30^th anniversary year, we want to give women and girls the chance to tell their story. We need to hear it from them.”