“How does one find God when there’s nothing in you?”
In this episode with Saad Omar Khan, we discuss depression, faith, unrequited love, and the connections between these. We explore these in Khan’s latest work, Drinking the Ocean, which tells the story of Murad, whose carefully constructed reality is upset by a chance encounter with a long-lost love. Set in England, Canada, and Pakistan, Drinking the Ocean forces us to contemplate deep questions on faith and family responsibility. Find out more about the book below.
Show highlights
- The journey of writing: From education to publication
- The role of religion in mental health and personal identity
- The juxtaposition of religion and faith
- Depression and the need for connection
- The structure of storytelling
- Navigating religion and politics
- Resilience and diaspora experiences
- Cultural perspectives on marriage
“If you are somebody who comes from a background where you’ve been brought up to get your most meaning from faith, you have to fight harder and that fight becomes harder when you’re going through something that empties you from the inside. How does one find God when there’s nothing in you?”
Saad Omar Khan
Drinking the Ocean is available for purchase now, and you can buy it here.
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About Saad Omar Khan
Saad Omar Khan was born in the United Arab Emirates to Pakistani parents and lived in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and South Korea before emigrating to Canada.
Saad is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics and has completed a certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies, where he was a finalist for the Random House Creative Writing Award and the Marina Nemat Award.
In 2019, he was longlisted for the Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction. His short fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Stories 2025 and other publications.
About Drinking the Ocean
The day after his thirty-third birthday, Murad spots a familiar face at a crowded intersection in downtown Toronto. Shocked, he stands silently as Sofi, a woman he’d fallen in love with almost a decade ago, walks by holding the hand of a small child. Murad turns and descends the subway steps to return home to his wife as the past washes over him, and he is taken back to the first time they met.
Moving between Lahore, London and Toronto, Drinking the Ocean is a story of connections lost and found and of the many kinds of love that shape a life, whether familial, romantic or spiritual. As Murad’s and Sofi’s lives touch and separate, we see them encounter challenges with relationships, family and God, and struggle with the complexities facing Muslims in the West.
With compassion and elegance, Saad Omar Khan delicately illuminates the arcs of these two haunted lives, moved by fate and by love, as they absorb the impact of their personal spiritual journeys.
Guest’s links
Buy Drinking the Ocean: https://www.saadomarkhan.com/drinkingtheocean/
Follow Omar on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s.omar.khan/
Contact Omar: https://www.saadomarkhan.com/contact/
Host’s links
Book a one-on-one with Lola: https://wordcaps.com/coaching/
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