Not Another Samoosa Run!
By Nadia Cassim’ - NB Publishers
Johannesburg author Nadia Cassim is sassy and rebellious and her debut novel Not Another Samoosa Run! is a breath of fresh air in women fiction. The novel is about a 27-year-old psychology student struggling under the stigma of divorce in her close-knit Muslim Indian community. Her mother insists on finding her a new husband - even if it means orchestrating a traditional ‘samoosa run’. She strikes a deal with a young man: a pretend engagement to keep their families off their backs. But this simple ruse soon grows complicated because one of them is hiding a life-changing secret…
With a twinkle in her dark eyes and a swish of her shoulder-length hair, Nadia will tell you that there are things in her community that she is not pleased about.
“I know some like to say, ‘don’t tear down your own people’ but there are issues, and fiction is a tool to bring out those issues in a subtle way.” She pauses before laughing and admitting, “I don’t know if it’s THAT subtle, though.” A truth universally acknowledged...
“It’s not what you would deem Islamic,” Nadia says. “They say that Muslim women have a social responsibility regarding what we write but I’m like – no guys, be realistic! They say you can’t show men and women interact – I mean, have you been on campus?” she raises her eyebrows. “Men sleep around and then want to marry the good girl from the good family.”
Her own family are aware of the ructions she is about to cause. It would not be the first time that Nadia has gone against their plan for her. Her father is a gynaecologist and a prominent member of the community who builds padel courts in his free time. “At a young age my dad realised I was not mathematically inclined and therefore wouldn’t be a doctor, so he decided we needed an architect in the family.”
Despite actually wanting to study art, Nadia pursued a degree in town planning (the architecture programme was full). It was in her third year that she realised it really was not her thing. “Those zoning applications,” she rolls her eyes, “and just the buildings in Joburg are enough to make you depressed.”
Nevertheless, Nadia pushed through and completed her degree, winning all the awards before turning down a position with the City of Johannesburg to finally pursue a career in fine art. Her paintings have been exhibited in two solo shows and showcased at the Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill.
The bubbly and unconventional mother of two girls is a Reiki healer and founded the modern Muslim women’s magazine IRTIQA in 2012. She describes herself as “spiritual rather than religious”. In 2023, she was selected for the Bosberg Book Writing residency at Paulet House in KwaNojoli in the Eastern Cape. Her publisher at Kwêla, Stevlyn Vermeulen says, “Not Another Samoosa Run! is a necessary addition to the local literary landscape and particularly the women’s fiction genre. Nadia beautifully explores the complexities – the joys and the struggles - of what it means to be a woman: a woman of a ‘certain’ age, a woman in love, a woman who wants more...”
Like her main character Tasneem, Nadia is divorced, and although she has friends who have been subjected to samoosa runs, her own family never arranged such a meeting with another family to introduce her to a potential partner. “They wouldn’t dare,” she smiles.
