Sampan’s Speaker Series brings together writers, historians, artists and activists to explore the stories that shape Myanmar, India and Bangladesh. These are conversations about people and places, memory and identity — unfolding over drinks, dinner, and good company.

Our previous events included author Abir Mukherjee speaking about the heritage of British and Bengali detective fiction, Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent on her travels in the Naga Hills, Charlotte Carty on her grandfather’s march to Kohima in 1944 and K.S. Nair exploring the Bangladesh 1971 Liberation War in the context of the Cold War. What connects each talk is a desire to look closer and ask questions.

For our Speaker Series events in Yangon, we offer a certain number of free tickets to Myanmar youth. Let us know if you think you are eligible and would like to attend an event.

Contact us for more information and check below for upcoming events.

Sam Dalrymple: “Shattered Lands & the Making of Modern India”

Tuesday 2 December 2025 – Yangon

Writer and filmmaker Sam Dalrymple joins Sampan in Yangon to speak about his acclaimed new book, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern India. Sam will explore how Partition has shaped the histories — and borders — of South Asia, far beyond 1947.

The book weaves together the stories of five major partitions, from Aden to Burma, tracing the fault lines of empire and the enduring consequences of dislocation. Drawing on his research, travels and family history, Sam offers a fresh and deeply human perspective on one of the most defining forces in the region’s modern history.

Sam is a Delhi-raised Scottish historian and award-winning filmmaker. He graduated from Oxford University as a Persian and Sanskrit scholar. He has worked across South and Central Asia, including stints with Turquoise Mountain in Kabul, and with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Hunza and Lahore. In 2018, he co-founded Project Dastaan, a peace-building initiative that reconnects refugees displaced by the 1947 Partition of India. Sam’s writing has appeared in the New York Times and The Spectator, and he is a columnist for Architectural Digest.

Dr Robert Lyman: “Rangoon & WW2”

Tuesday 3 February 2026 – Yangon

Military historian and author Rob Lyman joins Sampan in Yangon to explore the city’s pivotal role during the Second World War. Once a thriving colonial port, Yangon (then Rangoon) became a crucial battlefield, a place of evacuation and occupation, and a symbol of the shifting fortunes of empire in Asia.

In this talk, Rob traces the dramatic events of 1942, when British and Commonwealth forces were driven out of Burma, and the city fell to the Japanese. Drawing on his extensive research and fieldwork, he examines how the war transformed Yangon’s landscape and its people — from the chaos of the exodus north to the resilience of those who remained.

A former British Army officer and one of the leading historians of the Burma Campaign, Rob brings deep insight and humanity to a story often overshadowed by other theatres of war. His talk offers a rare chance to see Yangon through the lens of those turbulent years — and to reflect on how the war continues to shape the city today.

Rob leads Sampan’s Forgotten War Tour and Beyond the Chindwin WW2 tours.

RSVP with amy(at)sapantravel.com