90pp., paperback, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2026

ISBN: 9781431436392

In this intimate collection, Zubayr Charles explores the tension between desire and detachment, longing and all-consuming love. Invoking a strong sense of place, Charles' Cape Town shapes what it means to be queer and Coloured.

"Here's to the sad boys, wysing us not to koppel feelings but doing it anyway!" Jamil F. Khan, author of Khamr: The makings of a waterslams

"Zubayr Charles serves up a tender, spicy feast of queer longing - where love tastes like biltong, Pepsi Cola and everything left unsaid." David Kramer, musician and playwright

Zubayr Charles is a Cape Town based multi-disciplinary writer whose work spans theatre, prose and poetry. His plays, Mercy, Please, don’t call me moffie, The Battered Housewives’ Club, and this bra’s a psycho, have been staged at various theatre festivals around Cape Town. His essays have appeared on LitNet and Cape Creative Collective.

the sad boy's starter pack, and other poems

: Charles (Z.)

Quantity