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

Queer Arabia & Arabian Diaspora
Review of the Saqi Books paperback edition (2022).

This was an overall enlightening and empowering anthology collection written by a wide-range of queer writers, many in the diaspora but with some still living in their home countries where queer relationships are subject to severe discrimination and are either illegal or even punishable by death sentences. Many of the essays are in the form of memoirs, stories about survival and coming out in their youth and/or to their families. These can be traumatic and tragic but also inspiring and hopeful. There is humour throughout as well though esp. in No. 15 "Trophy Hunters, White Saviours and Grindr."

When I was searching for background on this anthology, I show more discovered there was an entire Wikipedia page devoted to it, which you can read here. The amount of detail provided there precluded the need for me to write further about each essay here, but I added links to the Goodreads author pages for those which were available or to Wikipedia pages/Websites for others (e.g. artists/filmmakers) where available. Due to the use of pseudonyms/anonymity, there are no links to some authors.

Introduction by editor Elias Jahshan.
1. The Decade of Saying All That I Could Not Say by Mona Eltahawy.
2. Returning to Beirut by Saleem Haddad.
3. This Text Is a Very Lonely Document (In memory of my father) by Dima Mikhayel Matta.
4. Catching the Light: Reclaiming Opera as a Trans Arab by Zeyn Joukhadar.
5. You Made Me Your Monster by Amrou Al-Kadhi.
6. My.Kali – Digitising a Queer Arab Future by Khalid Abdel-Hadi (Wikipedia link to the article for the My.Kali webzine for which they are the editor).
7. The Artist's Portrait of a Marginalised Man by Danny Ramadan.
8. Pilgrimage to Love by Ahmed Umar (Wikipedia link to the artist).
9. An August, a September and My Mother by Amina (a pseudonym for a Egyptian writer).
10. The Bad Son by Raja Farah.
11. Dating White People by Tania Safi (Link to the filmmaker's own website).
12. My Intersectionality Was My Biggest Bully by Amna Ali (no other link found).
13. Trio by Hamed Sinno.
14. Unheld Conversations by Anbara Salam.
15. Trophy Hunters, White Saviours and Grindr (A queer Arab's search for a husband) by Anonymous.
16. Dancing Like Sherihan by Hasan Namir.
17. Then Came Hope by Madian Al Jazerah.
18. Tweets to a Queer Arab Poet by Omar Sakr (Wikipedia link for the poet).

Soundtrack
The Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila is mentioned several times in this book and one of the essays (No. 13) is by its lead singer Hamed Sinno. You can see/hear their NPR Tiny Desk concert here.

Other Reviews/Articles
Inside a Groundbreaking Anthology that sheds light on 18 Queer Arab voices, by Armani Syed, Time, October 18, 2022.
A seminal moment in the Arab world's production of queer knowledge, by Hasan Kilani, The New Arab, July 27, 2022. show less