Our archive features a wide variety of text-based and visual material including excerpts of fiction, poetry and plays, photographs, manuscripts, art works, dance performances and more.

The SADAA digital archive (previously, SALIDAA) covers five subject areas: literature, visual arts, theatre, dance and music. It features a wide variety of text-based and visual material including excerpts of fiction, poetry and plays, photographs, manuscripts and writers’ notes, art works, leaflets, programmes of events, stage and costume drawings of theatre and dance performances, lyrics, CD and record covers, and music scores. All relate to the substantial body of work produced by South Asian writers, artists, performers and musicians in England from 1947 onwards. The material is in English, but as a future development SADAA plans to add material in South Asian languages as well as audio-visuals, and hopes to extend its coverage to include films. We also aim to collect material which pre-dates 1947.

Although the archive does not constitute a comprehensive reflection of contemporary South Asian literature and arts in England, many of the individuals and organisations featured have played an important role in the development of the art forms covered in the archive. These include, for example, the many writers who belonged to the now defunct Asian Women Writers Collective (AWWC), established theatre companies such as Tara Arts and Kali Theatre, dance companies like Pushpalata, musicians such as internationally renowned Najma Akhtar and punk world music label Nation Records, as well as visual artists such as the late Pakistani photographer Samena Rana and painter Amal Ghosh.