Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
Durban academic Dr Quraisha Dawood’s novel, Stirring The Pot was recently nominated for the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences best fiction award.
The nomination took Dawood by surprise and even though she didn’t win the award, her nomination has motivated her to continue writing. What was also inspiring for her is that, looking back, publishers had rejected her book. Penguin Random House was the only publisher that took a chance on her, and today, her book has gained national recognition.
It taught her a lesson that one should never give up on their dreams. Stirring The Pot gives a glimpse into the private lives of a group of women in Durban’s Muslim community, at a block of flats in North Beach. It focuses on the relationships they share with their domestic workers, and the friendships between the women.
Dawood has been passionate about writing since she was a teenager.
“In matric I wrote a book of poems, and I think as an only child, I got used to writing a lot. And then after that, I studied architecture for a bit and it wasn’t giving me the same rush you get from writing. I did a journalism course with the IPCI, I wrote for the Al-Ummah Newspaper for a couple of years and then I did a social science degree majoring in sociology and industrial psychology,” said Dawood.
That progressed to Dawood writing for a labour studies newsletter.
“I wrote some pieces. I felt I needed a change when I started working at the Mr Price head office. I was a trainee graduate there. I really missed having some kind of writing going on, and I decided to do my master’s degree. I had to think of a topic that would keep me interested and I looked at domestic workers in North Beach, working for Muslim employers,” said Dawood.
She spoke to about 20 “madams” as part of her research.
“I would go into their homes and chat to them. To balance it, I interviewed five or six domestic workers and I got to hear their stories. I had to earn their trust and let them know that they are going to be anonymous otherwise you won’t get a true reflection of their experience,” said Dawood.
This became a topic that also helped her reflect on her own journey.
“I’ve always had a difficult relationship with domestic workers growing up. I always questioned how somebody could clean up after me. And once I became a working mother, I realised how much I needed a helper in my life and how much she’s an extension of our roles in our homes,” said Dawood.
It turned out to be an amazing thesis for Dawood. “I went on to do a PhD, but I still felt very connected to my master’s research. I just felt like I needed to turn my master’s into something more,” said Dawood.
Along the way, she wrote a book called Almost Me, which was about my experience of miscarriage, postpartum depression and motherhood. “And I kept writing my master’s up into fictional work, but I kept getting rejected. Alhamdulilah, it was published last year and it’s been the most amazing, eye-opening experience for me,” said Dawood.
Being nominated for the NIHSS Best Fiction Award has motivated Dawood to keep going.
“It gave me so much inspiration to continue writing. I first thought this was just one thing ticked off my bucket list, but it has now inspired me to write a sequel,” said Dawood.
Dawood says the nomination also means so much to her because she was told by one or two publishers that her book would only appeal to the Muslim market, and that would be a very small market, so they wouldn’t invest in the book.
“I actually believed that, but I had to believe there was potential in it and that the story wouldn’t just sit on an academic bookshelf and collect dust. I didn’t just do this research for academics. I wanted to have it in the public domain. I wanted to spark a conversation,” said Dawood.
Dawood says when her book deal came through, it was an incredible moment in her life, to know that she would be able to see her work in print.
“There were people who reached out and said they could identify with each of the characters and that this conversation was needed. And I think having recipes between each chapter, gave the book a special edge. It gave it something useful. It allowed the reader to taste and smell the cooking that was being done, in the building that the book is set in,” said Dawood.
She was also shocked when she received an email saying Stirring The Pot made the bestseller list. Dawood is excited to be working on her sequel, and while there’s no telling yet, when that will be ready, she says it is certainly something to look forward to.
