Queer as in a radical life, queer as in free Palestine. As the genocide in Gaza continues, we want to remind our community that we are here as support and a resource. In the spirit of that mission, we present a list of queer Palestinian/Anti-Zionist Jewish writers/activists/scholars. Buy, read, support! Looking for more information on queerness and the current conflict? Check out our resources at the bottom of the page!
Khalid Abdel-Hadi | خالد عبد الهادي (he/him)
- Editor-in-Chiefof the queer feminist webzine My Kali Magazine which “addresses culture & politics in SWANA & diaspora.”
- Anthologized in This Arab is Queer (Saqi Books).
- Check out more here!
Rasha Abdulhadi (they/them)
- Author of who is owed springtime (Neon Hemlock, 2021) and Shell Houses (2017).
- Culture organizer.
- Check out more here!
George Abraham (they/he/هو)
- Author of Birthright (Button Poetry, 2020), al youm (The Atlas Review, 2017), and the specimen’s apology (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019).
- Finalist for Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Poetry.
- Executive Editor of the Whiting Award winning journal Mizna.
- Check out more here!
Dr. Walaa Alqaisiya (she/her)
- Marie Skłodowska Curie Research Fellow.
- Gender, Sexuality and Conflict teaching fellow at the London School of Economics.
- Research Fellow at the CBRL (Council for British Research in the Levant) for her project, ‘Queer(y)ing Palestine’s Future’.
Zaina Arafat (she/her)
- Author of You Exist Too Much (Catapult, 2021).
- Winner of the 2021 Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Fiction.
- Professor of writing at Barnard College, The School of the New York Times and LIU Post.
- Check out more here!
Dr. Sa’ed Atshan | سائد عطشان (he/him
- Author of Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique (Stanford University Press, 2020), and Coauthor, with Katharina Galor, of The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestinians (Duke University Press, 2020).
- Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Anthropology at Swarthmore College.
- Current President of the Association of Middle East Anthropology (AMEA) of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).
- Check out more here!
Amina Awad (she/her)
- Author of My Mama’s Magic (Austin Macauley, 2022)
- Lambda Literary Fellow
- Check out more here!
Elias Jahshan (he/him)
- Editor of This Arab is Queer
- Former editor of Star Observer, Australia’s longest-running LGBTQ+ media
outlet, and a former board member of the Arab Council Australia. - Check out more here!
Randa Jarrar (she/her)
- Author of the memoir Love Is An Ex-Country (Catapault 2023), the novel A Map of Home (Penguin Books, 2009), and the collection of stories Him, Me, Muhammad Ali (Sarabande Books, 2016)
- Recipient of a Creative Capital Award and an American Book Award
- Lannan Foundation Fellow
- Check out more here!
noam keim (they/them)
- Author of This Land is Holy (forthcoming 2024 from Radix Media
- Lambda Literary ’22 Emerging LGBTQ Voices Fellow
- Check out more here!
Dr. Maya Mikdashi (she/her)
- Author of Sextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism and the State in Lebanon (Stanford University Press, 2022).
- Professor, Scholar, Journalist, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and a Lecturer in the Program for Middle East Studies at Rutgers University.
- Mellon Fellow
- Check out more here!
Hannah Moushabeck (she/her)
- Author of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine (Chronicle Books, March 2023).
- Palestinian American author, editor, and book marketer
- Check out more here!
Dr. Anbara Salam (she/her)
- Author of Things Bright and Beautiful (Fig Tree/Penguin, 2018), Belladonna (Berkley Books, 2020), and Hazardous Spirits (Tin House Books, 2023).
- Check out more here!
Dr. Mejdulene B. Shomali (She/her)
- Author of Between Banat: Queer Arab Critique and Transnational Arab Archives (Duke University Press, 2023)
- Associate Professor in the Department of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)
- Nominated for a Pushcart
- Check out more here!
Dr. Mikki Stelder
- Interdisciplinary researcher, writer, and learner
- Marie Skłodowska Curie Research Fellow working at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis
- Dissertation on anti-apartheid queer activist groups was shortlisted for the NWSA/IUP First Book Award at the annual National Women’s Studies Association Conference
- Check out more here!
