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Dalia Al-Dujaili – Nature of Things: A Salon For Curious Minds

A conversation about balancing identity, home, and what it means to belong to a land

Taking place at the Grand Junction Café, enjoy an in-depth discussion between Rami Bassam (Climate Champion) and author Dalia Al-Dujaili, all about how heritage, myth, and environment intertwine in Babylon Albion: a beautiful portrayal of how it feels to live on a land far from your ancestors, using folklore from both Iraq (Babylon) and England (Albion) to highlight the connections between both identities. Join the conversation and enjoy a drink and bite at our lovely café. The book will be available to purchase on the night too!

Free Childcare Provided

Part of “Nature of Things: A Salon for Curious Minds”, a monthly series of talks centered around the climate.

BOOK TICKETS ON DICE
BOOK TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE

The evening is presented by Paddington Development Trust and Grand Junction, as part of the “Nature of Things: A Salon For Curious Minds” monthly series of talks.

Dalia is a British-born Iraqi writer, editor, and producer based in London. She is mostly interested in writing and commissioning stories on emerging creativity from the SWANA region and diaspora, migrant narratives, and reporting on community-led stories from the margins. She has been profiled and featured in VOGUE Arabia, GQ Middle East, New York Magazine, Stylist, featured in the Dazed100 Global List, and more.

She’s worked with Nike, Ugg, Converse, The ICA, TATE Galleries, The Southbank Centre, Autograph, Aperture Foundation, the Zaha Hadid Foundation,Sole DXB, BFI, the Barbican, Browns, The Edinburgh International Film Festival, London Migration Film Festival, Refugee Week, The Photographer’s Gallery, Royal Museums Greenwich and more.

Dalia is the founder of The Road to Nowhere, a magazine and digital platform that showcases new creative and cultural writing, art, and photography about second-generation immigrants, diaspora, and migration narratives. It intends to celebrate and scrutinise the global nature of our communities and what identity constitutes. Her debut non-fiction book was Babylon, Albion: A Personal History of Myth and Migration, featured in Vogue Arabia, GQ, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, AnOther, The London Review, Dazed, GQ Middle East and more.

Charity work includes tutoring refugees at Paper Airplanes, volunteering with The Felix Project, and raising money for Health In Mind, Restless Beings, Counterpoints, Gaza Library, MAP, The White Helmets, MAG International, Choose Love, and the IRC. She was also a Migrant Aspiration Programme mentor at The Migrant Rights Network and mentors journalism with the Aziz Foundation.

daliaaldujaili.com | @dalia.aldu

Note: third picture in the carousel is the painting “Baghdadi Houses” by Suad Al-Attar, 1985.

Date: 27 August 2026

Start Time: 19:00

Doors: 18:30

Bar: Open from 19:00. We serve a selection of craft beer, wine, soft drinks and snacks.

Length: approx. 2 hours

Standard Ticket: FREE

We recommend pre-booking tickets to guarantee entry.

Venue: Grand Junction Café at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Rowington Close, London W2 5TF

Closest Stations: Royal Oak (Circle and Hammersmith & City line) 0.3 miles

Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo line) 0.4 miles

Paddington Station (National Rail services and Circle, District, Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City line) 0.9 miles