MAKTABA MOMENT: Elias Jahshan and Guests

On April 10, 2026, Maktaba will host a special event celebrating two groundbreaking anthologies - This Arab Is Queer and the brand new This Queer Arab Family. Both edited and compiled by journalist and writer Elias Jahshan, the books are a celebration of queer Arab identity and explores how queer Arab communities reimagine family beyond traditional expectations. They each feature queer Arab writers from around the world sharing stories they never had the chance to tell, and do so on their own terms.

Elias Jahshan will be joined by two local contributors from each of his books: Amna Ali and Lamiae Bouqentar. The evening will consist of a panel discussion and Q&A with Elias, Amna and Lamiae, followed by author signings. Copies of the book are available to purchase at the event.

Elias Jahshan (he/him) is a Lebanese-Palestinian journalist and writer, and the editor of groundbreaking anthologies THIS ARAB IS QUEER (2022) and THIS QUEER ARAB FAMILY (2025), both published by Saqi Books. This Arab Is Queer was a 2023 Lambda Literary Awards finalist in the USA and shortlisted for the 2023 Bread & Roses Award in the UK, and has been translated into Italian and soon in French. He has had short memoirs published in several anthologies and has been published in The Guardian, The New Arab, Gay Times, Attitude, My Kali, and more. A former editor-in-chief of Star Observer, Australia’s longest-running LGBTQ+ media outlet, Elias was born and raised in Sydney, Australia and now lives in London, UK.

Amna Ali is a storyteller and decolonial practitioner, whose work of fugitive world building is a devotion to personal and collective liberation. She is also a contributor to This Arab Is Queer, with her chapter 'My Intersectionality was my Biggest Bully'.

Lamiae Bouqentar is a postdoctoral fellow at the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. Her work explores the complex and emotionally rich experiences of Arab queer life in diaspora. Drawing on approaches such as queer of color critique, affect theory, and creative forms like autofiction, and life-writing; her research blends scholarship with personal and cultural reflection to better understand how identity, memory, and (be)longing are shaped across borders. Her chapter, 'To You, Child of Our Resistance and Our Joys', was featured in This Queer Arab Family.

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