Ahmad Saber

Ahmad Saber is a young adult author who grew up on an all-girls college campus next to a massive fort in Pakistan. He now lives in Canada, and loves Broadway (favorite show = Phantom), travel (favorite place = 4-way tie between NYC, Seoul, Paris, and Melbourne), and Taylor Swift (favorite album = folklore) He's also a self-professed Chocolate Chip Cookie Connoisseur and has crowned New York's Culture Espresso’s as the best in the world.

Ramin Abbas has MAJOR Questions is his debut novel and is based in part on his own lived experience, exploring the inherent challenges of being queer and Muslim, and the struggle to reconcile faith with sexuality.

Saber is also a medical doctor specializing in rheumatology.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My book’s title, Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions, is aimed to drop the potential reader into a whirlpool of curiosity: who is Ramin Abbas? Why does he have questions? What kind of questions does he have? And why are they so… Major? Do his questions have answers? In some ways, it makes the reader come up with their own set of questions immediately. Our great hope is that the potential reader would get pleasantly curious enough to read the book description and the opening chapter, and then embark on the journey with Ramin– a closted gay Muslim teen who attends an all-Muslim school and feels that he has to choose between being gay and remaining faithful to Allah—as he explores his questions and embarks on an internal quest to find the answers.

The idea of “questions” was initially suggested by my genius agent Dan Lazar, who connected deeply with the story and hoped that readers, especially those struggling with reconciling their faith and sexuality, would remain curious about themselves and simply ask thoughtful questions. We’re not necessarily here to give answers.

Then, my equally genius editor Caitlyn Dlouhy identified that in the book, Ramin has questions upon questions upon questions, his biggest one being: why does living your truth but losing everything—or living a lie and losing yourself—even have to be a choice?!

As for the process of arriving at this title, that’s a novella on its own. The book was initially called The Little Mosque in my Heart, a title to which part of me is still wedded to, but after prolonged discussions (and brainstorming well over 50 titles!) I decided to defer to the experience and wisdom of my publishing house. In the end, there was complete consensus over the official title, which we felt was more spunky and YA-appropriate with the widest potential readership. For fun and insight, here are some other frontrunners that didn’t make the final cut: Ramin Abbas is Full of Questions, Ramin Abbas is NOT Going to Heaven, Ramin Abbas Won’t Play Along.

What's in a name?

When naming Ramin Abbas, the titular protagonist, I simply wanted a relatively uncommon name used in Pakistan. Ramin is most commonly used in Iran as it’s a Persian name. In Pakistan, it is also used as a girl's name. While Ramin in the book identifies as cisgendered male, I still liked the unisex nature of his name to encapsulate his desired internal harmony with both his masculine and feminine sides. I would say it’s a strong name, even though I didn’t pick it initially because of this: Ramin can mean “someone who brings joy.” My great hope is that this fictional character can bring a lot of joy to his readers! As for simple or complicated, I think you can decide that for yourself after reading the above.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Oh, my teenage self would be majorly surprised! This is a book that comes from a deeply personal space and lived experience, so it is definitely a book my teenage self needed. If teenage Ahmad had found this book when he needed it most, I think his suffering would’ve felt at least 50% less lonely. But even though that Ahmad has now grown up (and is going pretty well emotionally btw!), my hope is that others like him, whether they are currently teens or adults, will find the book and see themselves in Ramin’s story.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

It’s definitely the beginnings! I usually know the endings first, it’s just a mammoth task to then find my way to that ending. I always knew that Ramin Abbas would find his way in the end, but in order for that to have meaning and resonance, I needed to capture on the page exactly how painful his struggle of having to choose between his faith and his sexuality was.

I have definitely changed the beginnings more. To give you an idea, initially the core concept of this book started off as a gay horror story set in the remote Northern mountainous villages of Pakistan. Yeah.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I think I have inadvertently answered this question above, but yes, Ramin’s story comes from a very personal experience, though he is also quite different from me in many ways. Certainly a lot braver than teenage Ahmad ever was!

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

TV series like Love, Victor and Heartstopper (though I realize it was literary to begin with) have inspired my style of storytelling but I also didn’t want an unrealistic representation of the deeply scary challenge of coming out as gay in a religious Muslim household. Other than TV, I had an “inspiration playlist” of music that included Harry Styles, Banners, and Public. Songs like “Someone to You” and “Make You Mine” truly lit the spark of inspiration during my worst writer’s blocks.

Visit Ahmad Saber's website.

The Page 69 Test: Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions.

My Book, The Movie: Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions.

Writers Read: Ahmad Saber.

--Marshal Zeringue