This Queer Arab Family: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers

120.00 NIS
Unit price per

Shipping calculated at checkout.

Existence is a form of resistance.

The Arabic word ‘hafla’ means party. But is also means to care for someone.
In Arab culture, family is everything. Personal desires are sacrificed for the unit, and roles within families are traditionally predetermined based on age and gender. So what happens when Queer Arabs redefine what those roles and relationships look like?

This Queer Arab Family is a celebration of the family we inherit and the friends we choose to become our family. From raising children with mum and mum, staying connected to sisters on the other side of the world through cooking the dishes that have been handed down through generations, to finding kinship in gender neutral toilets, this book is testament to the challenges and triumphs that bind us together.

This Queer Arab Family is here to slay.

Reviews

‘A stunner of a book … Building on the success of This Arab is Queer, Jahshan has gathered yet another extraordinary collection of essays with new depths and wonderful lyrical writing.’ --Danny Ramadan

'Jahshan once again convenes a chorus of voices that ricochet across distance and difference with tenderness and power. A celebration, a protest, a love letter, and a reminder that we are never alone. A vital, heart-filled collection.' --Saleem Haddad

'A vital addition to the landscape of Arab queer and trans literature. May this beautiful anthology open the way for many more to come.' --Zeyn Joukhadar

'A breathtakingly beautiful book by one of today’s Queer trailblazers. This Queer Arab Family is a celebration of enlightenment, a torchbearer for total liberation and a vital act of defiance to the forces that attempt to tear our queer love apart.’ --Dan Glass

'A rich, reverberating chorus of voices. This timely, powerful collection is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a gift at a time when we desperately need hope.’ --Sahar Mustafah

'A book that sings with all the love and warmth of an Arab family. Meet your queer cousins in these compelling testimonies. A beautifully curated collection of voices.' --Susan Muaddi Darraj

'From building a non-binary belly dancing robot to tender acts of kindness that bind queer Arabs together, this book will have you laughing and crying.' --The New Arab

'Jahshan orchestrates a symphony of perspectives that echo across geography and experience, bound together by strength and vulnerability. It's simultaneously a celebration, an act of resistance, a declaration of devotion, and an assurance that isolation is an illusion. This is trailblazing work from a contemporary queer luminary – a beacon for liberation and a defiant response to any force attempting to diminish our love.' --Scene Magazine

Elias Jahshan (he/him) is a Palestinian-Lebanese-Australian journalist and writer. He is a former editor of Star Observer, Australia’s longest-running LGBTQ+ media outlet, and a former board member of the Arab Council Australia. His short memoir ‘Coming Out Palestinian’ was anthologised in Arab Australian Other: Stories on Race and Identity, and he has written freelance for outlets including The Guardian, SBS Voices, My Kali and The New Arab. Born and raised in western Sydney, he now lives in London. Jahshan edited the anthology This Arab Is Queer (Saqi Books), a ground-breaking anthology features the compelling and courageous memoirs of eighteen queer Arab writers.