Poet, writer, and filmmaker Murshida Zaman’s ICORN residency in Copenhagen

Murshida Zaman is a passionate and outspoken advocate for women’s rights in her home country Bangladesh. Her work, which spans writing and various artistic forms, explores social taboos, the (female)body,forbidden sexuality, systematic gender-based violent and the rise of religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh.

She holds a B. A. and an M. A. in Bengal literature at Eden Mohila College, an affiliate of the National University of Bangladesh. 

During her ICORN residency in Copenhagen, Murshida published a collection of short stories called An Unstoppable Spring in her native language by Bengal Publications (2023). The book was featured at the New York Book Fair (2023). The short stories were translated into English by the renowned author and translator Arunava Sinha. An Unstoppable Spring will be published internationally by publisher house Bee Books in the beginning of 2025. The book was also translated into Danish and published in May 2024, in collaboration with Danish PEN, translator Cindy Lynn Brown and Copenhagen Municipality, with support from the Danish Ministry of Culture. The book is now available in libraries across Denmark. An Unstoppable Spring is a collection of poetic short stories that explore the tension between society, humanity and nature, and examine how human lives are shaped by technology, surveillance,religion, and the cultural expectations that govern our survival.

Her short stories, poems, and other writings have been featured in numerous publications, newspapers and online magazines in Bangladesh and India, including Daily Bangladesh (also here, here, here, and here), Ink and Pen (also here, here, here, here, and here) a platform dedicated to showcasing Bengali literature, Shuddhashar (here) Free Voice, Muktogodyo - Free Prose (here) a yearly magazine about Free Prose, Dak Bangla - India (here). Her debut poetry collection Butterfly of Invisible Shadows (2016) was followed by her first novel, based on the Bangladesh War of Independence Dead Soil, published in 2018. In 2020 she released her second poetry collection, Dearest Golden Shower. In 2023 her short story collection was released An Unstoppable Spring (Bangla). She has regularly showcased her work at Amar Ekushey Book Fair, the largest book fair in Bangladesh.

As a multifaceted artist, Murshida Zaman is also deeply involved in film-making. She wrote and directed the short film The Mattress, which was screened at Dhaka International Film Festival (2020) Nepal Human Rights Film Festival (2020) (here), and Rainbow International Film Festival, London (2020) (here). In 2019, she participated in the human rights-focused festival, Busan Human Rights Festival in South Korea. She served as a film jury member at several film festivals worldwide, most recently at the Religion Today Film Festival in Trento, Italy in 2022. For many years, she worked for Dhaka International Film Festival as a workshop coordinator, programmer, and film selector.

Her recent film Rhythm of Resilience was directed along with her husband, Reasat Jyoti, and scripted and filmed as a musical art documentary based on asylum seekers and their performances in a workshop conducted by Sandro Masai in collaboration with Lim Collective. Before this film Murshida Zaman and Reasat Jyoti scripted and directed the docu-fiction film Repercuss (2024).  

In 2022, Murshida Zaman was interviewed in the popular radio program Kulturen på P1 on Danish Broadcasting Corporation(DR). She also performed readings at the Gothenburg Book Fair (2022) and participated in panel debates and did readings at the International Peace Festival in Helsingør (2022).

Murshida Zaman continues to pursue her career as a writer, and her book An Unstoppable Spring is soon being launched to an international audience.

Copenhagen ICORN City of Refuge

Copenhagen joined ICORN in 2010 and has since hosted four writers, artists, and journalists in ICORN residencies, including Murshida Zaman. Iraqi political commentator and literary & fine arts critic Suhael Sami Nader was the first ICORN resident in Copenhagen, followed by Khalid Albaih, the Sudanese political cartoonist, artist, and commentator. The city is currently hosting a writer from Bangladesh who will be in ICORN residence until 2026.