Weekend with Tasneem Abdur-Rashid: ‘I’m known for my sticky barbeque ribs’
The author on motherhood, her love of cooking and the writers who inspire her
Tasneem Abdur-Rashid is a writer whose work explores family, faith and British Bangladeshi identity. She is the author of four novels, including Odd Girl Out, which has been nominated for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing. She wrote the bestselling Desperate in Dubai, which she published in 2011 under the pseudonym Ameera Al Hakawati.
Abdur-Rashid also co-hosts the award-winning podcast Not Another Mum Pod. She lives in east London with her two sons.
What does your Saturday morning look like?
I’m a mum of two, recently a single mum. I wake up thinking, “It’s Saturday, I can lie in,” and then remember my son’s got tuition at 10am, so I make breakfast, pack bags and race there. Then I’ve got four hours free.
How do you spend that free time?
I usually take my older son out for breakfast at Bobo and Wild in Stratford Westfield — it’s lovely, all halal and quiet. He does his homework, I do my writing.
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What are you working on right now?
I’m writing another young adult novel. I loved writing my last book Odd Girl Out so much I wanted to stay in that world. This one’s about a British Bangladeshi teenage girl whose parents have recently split up.
She has a really fractured relationship with her mum and, after a big fight during Ramadan, she wakes up the next day in the year 2000 in her mum’s body. It’s like Freaky Friday meets 13 Going on 30, meets Back to the Future, but set in north London with British Bengali Muslim characters.
What’s something from the year 2000 you’d bring back?
It’d have to be the music. Old-school R&B, hip-hop, even Y2K pop — it was all so much better. Definitely not the fashion — I did that the first time around and I’m not wearing those jeans again. I wouldn’t bring back dial-up or MSN Messenger either. And I’m not bringing back those drawn-on eyebrows. No way.
What are you reading at the moment?
I’m reading a young adult book called On the Edge by Nicola Garrard. I just finished Love On Sight by Asli Jensen, which is so much fun and it’s great to see more Somali representation.
Which writers inspire you?
I love anything by Tahereh Mafi and Sabaa Tahir. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas really inspired me when I wrote Odd Girl Out.
Where’s your favourite place to write?
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Before I got a proper home office, I wrote in coffee shops all over London. Now my kids are older, they know to leave me alone when I’m writing, so I do it from home. I draw inspiration from my own experiences — being a Londoner and British Bengali. There aren’t enough stories about people like me, so I like to make these characters the protagonists.
Do you prefer eating out or staying in?
You need both. Cooking every day is tiring, especially the clean up. But after a few days of eating other people’s food, I start missing my own.
Favourite meal to make?
I’m known for my sticky barbecue ribs.
What have you been watching recently?
I’m introducing my kids to the classics. We’ve done Back to the Future, The Karate Kid, ET and The Goonies. I wasn’t sure they’d enjoy them, but they loved them. They’re nine and 11, so it’s the perfect age.
Any other culture recommendations?
The last thing I saw in the theatre was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — I’m a big Harry Potter fan, but honestly, six-and-a-half-hours? My bum was numb by the end.
