El Ghourabaa: A Queer and Trans Collection of Oddities

Seeking uncanny, fun, experimental, creepy, sarcastic, playful, vulgar, inventive, sexual, weird, sweet, and evocative works, editors Samia Marshy and Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch set out to collect Arab and Arabophone queer writing. The result is an anthology brimming with gems by emerging and established writers and an homage to the lineages and complexities of queer Arab life. Multi-genre, multi-generational, and global, El Ghourabaa is an enigma, a delight, and a contribution to an ongoing conversation and creative outpouring.

In addition to Marshy and El Bechelany-Lynch, contributors include: Leila Marshy, Trish Salah, Olivia Tapiero, Nour Symon, Yehia Anas Sabaa, Nofel, Hoda Adra, Ralph Haddad, Seif Siddiq, Karim Kattan, Andrea Abi-Karam, Bazeed, George Abraham, Sarah O’Neal, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán, Naja Kassir, Micaela Kaibni Raen, Nour Kamel, Barrak Alzaid, Joe Kadi, Marlin M. Jenkins, Etel Adnan, Sherine Elbanhawy, and Rabih Alameddine.

Samia Marshy is a full-time reader and part-time writer located in Tio’tià ke (Montreal, QC). She is a registered massage therapist and studied human geography and history at Concordia. Her work has focused on making sure body care is as accessible as possible. She co-wrote ＂The Hands That Planted Them＂ with Lee Lai, published in Metal Hurlant, and was an editor for The Philistine by Leila Marshy.

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch is a writer living in Tio’tià ke. Their work has appeared in The Best Canadian Poetry 2018 anthology, GUTS, carte blanche, the Shade Journal, The New Quarterly, Arc Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. They were longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2019. Their book knot body (2020), published by Metatron Press, was shortlisted for the QWF Concordia University First Book Prize. The Good Arabs (2021), published by Metonymy Press, was the winner of the 2022 Grand Prix du livre de Montréal and received an Honorable Mention from the 2022 Arab American Book Awards for the George Ellenbogen Poetry Award.