Zahra Afsah was born and grew up in Tehran. In 2016 she completed her second MA, in Persian Painting and Transcultural Visuality at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Her MA dissertation examines the links between oral storytelling and Persian miniature painting, exploring the direct influences of the oral tradition in the Khamseh of Nizami of 1494-95. Zahra has run various workshops and performed in schools and museums, as well as informal settings. In June 2018, she finished the UK’s only national storytelling development programme to transform the way stories are told, performing at Canada Water Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre. She has had sold out performances at IHF’s Yalda celebrations, recounting the tale of Layla and Majnun (Dec 2018), and also at the Festival of Ideas in Cambridge (Oct 2019). She was due to perform at the Chester Beatty in Dublin as part of Persian New Year celebrations in March 2020, as well as a recitation of Khosrow and Shirin at the Victoria and Albert Museum but unfortunately both of these events were cancelled due to Covid 19.