We are so excited to celebrate the release of Zubayr Charles’s first novel, Haram, which will be available at all bookstores at the end of January this year!
Zubayr Charles was one of our participants in the Kommadagga Short Story project in 2020, and we are so proud to see how much he has grown as a writer over these past few years! He is a multidisciplinary writer and a UCT Master’s in Creative Writing graduate.
This debut novel follows the narrator named Muhammad, on the morning of his marriage, as he reflects on a lifetime spent trying to be the praise-worthy son – obedient, devout, and faithful. Raised by his fiercely religious mother, Zaynab, Muhammad once performed his prayers on time and lived by the rules of his faith. Yet beneath the surface, he feels increasingly trapped between who he is expected to be and who he truly is.
Haram’s emotional bravery lies in how it avoids sensationalism and simply lets you inhabit a young man’s private, conflicted truth; so intimate and honest that I often forgot it was fiction.
Shana Fife
Pulled into memories of his adolescence, a time when faith and forbidden desires collided, Muhammad confronts the quiet tensions that have shaped his life. One night, when he meets Riyaaz at a braai, his world shifts dramatically through an unexpected friendship that forces him to reckon with desire, identity, and belonging.
Set against the vivid backdrop of Cape Malay culture within Cape Town’s close-knit Muslim community, Haram, written in English mixed with Kaaps and Arabic, explores the complexities of Coloured identity with tenderness and unflinching honesty. The novel captures the rhythms of prayer alongside the secrets families keep – in a bustling city alive with unspoken desires.
Haram marks the arrival of a bold new literary voice, offering an intimate and courageous exploration of identity and the difficulties of making sense of one’s sexuality and the aftermath of alcohol addiction within Cape Town’s fast-paced nightlife scene.
Haram takes readers on the painful journey of growing up queer and religious, yearning for love and acceptance while navigating judgement and neglect. It’s a courageous story. Tender, heartbreaking, and important.
Alistair Mackay
Details for the book launch:
- Date: Thursday, 5 February 2026
- Time: 17h30
- Place: Exclusive Books Cavendish
