Additional information
by Elias Jahshan (Editor)
This ground-breaking anthology features the compelling and courageous memoirs of eighteen queer Arab writers - some internationally bestselling, others using pseudonyms. Here, we find
heart-warming connections and moments of celebration alongside essays exploring
the challenges of being LGBTQ+ and Arab.
From a military base in the Gulf to
loving whispers caught between the bedsheets; and from touring overseas as a
drag queen to a concert in Cairo where the rainbow flag was raised to a crowd
of thousands, this collection celebrates the true colours of a vibrant Arab
queer experience.
Author Biography
Contributors:
Khaled Abdel-Hadi is the editor-in-chef of My.Kali magazine and a visual artist from Jordan. His work as a global LGBT+ activist includes the Human Rights Watch campaign 'No Longer Alone'. He was listed as one of the Guardian's LGBT Ghange Heroes of the Year in 2017.
Amuna Ali is the founder of the Black Arabs Collective, a platform that shares and amplifies the stories and voices of Black Arabs. Ali is of Somali and Yemeni descent and lives in the UAE.
Madian Aljazeera is a Palestinian Jordanian bookseller and founder of Amman's Books at Café, a bookshop-come-internet café. His memoir Are You This? Or Are You This? was published by Hurst in 2021.
Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian feminist, author and internationally award-winning columnist.
Saleem Haddad is a screenwriter, essayist and author of best-selling and Polari-prize-winning novel Guapa.
Zeyn Joukhadar is a writer whose novels include The Map of Salt and Stars and The Thirty Names of Night. His work has appeared in outlets including The Paris Review, and he has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Amrou Al-Kadhi is a British Iraqi screenwriter, drag queen, essayist and author. Their debut book Life as a Unicorn won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Polari First Book Prize. Their debut drag solo show is currently in production for TV.
Dima Mikhayel Matta is a genderqueer writer, actor, spoken-word artist and playwright, and the founder of Cliffhangers Storytelling, a discussion series and workshop for emerging playwrights based in Beirut.
Hasan Namir is an Iraqi-Canadian poet and novelist. Namir's debut novel God in Pink won the Award for Gay Fiction at the 2016 Lambda Literary Awards and his poetry collection War / Torn was shortlisted for a Stonewall Book Award.
Ahmed Danny Ramadan is an award-winning novelist, public speaker, and LGBTQ-refugee activist. His novel, The Clothesline Swing won the LGBT category at the Independent Publisher Book Awards, the Canada Authors Association Award for Best Overall Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award.
Hamed Sino is the lead singer of the famous Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila. The only out gay singer in the Arab world, Sino advocates for LGBT rights in the Middle East and worldwide.
Tania Safi is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and filmmaker. She is the founder of Shway Shway, an online web series showcasing change-makers in Lebanon.
Musa Shadeedi is a writer and visual artist from Baghdad. He is an editor at My.Kali magazine, author of Oum Kulthoum's Sexuality (2019) and the founder of 'Cinamji', an initiative focused on the body and sexuality in Arab cinema.
Ahmed Umar is a Sudanese visual artist who came to Norway as a political refugee in 2008. He is the subject of the documentary feature film The Art of Sin, which won the Best Feature award at the LGBTQ+ Los Angeles Film festival 2021.
