On 19 April, the Bureau will host journalist & writer Elias Jahshan for the NYC launch of his latest book, THIS QUEER ARAB FAMILY – a celebratory book that explores how queer Arab communities reimagine family beyond traditional expectations. Edited and compiled by Elias Jahshan, the book features ten queer writers from across the Arab world and diaspora, with stories that honour chosen kinship, everyday acts of care and the creativity and resilience that sustain queer Arab communities. In many Arab cultures, family roles are tightly defined, often prioritising unity over individual desire. This Queer Arab Family questions what happens when queer Arabs challenge those norms and build a family on their own terms. Fierce, vibrant and unapologetic, This Queer Arab Family celebrates community, survival and joy against all odds.

Elias Jahshan will be in conversation with Afeef Nessouli, followed by an audience Q&A and author signings. Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the event.

To reserve a copy of This Queer Arab Family (Saqi Books, October 14, 2025, paperback, $21.95) or This Arab Is Queer: An Anthology of LGBTQ+ Arab Writers (Saqi Books, October 18, 2022, paperback, $21.95), both edited by Elias Jahshan, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve book(s) for April 19 event” in the subject line, and let us know which of the titles in the body of the email.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:

youtube.com/@bgsqd

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.

All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Elias Jahshan 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.

Afeef Nessouli is a journalist and host of “With Afeef Nessouli” a weekly livestream about suppressed news, and monthly interview show featuring journalists and sources. He recently spent nine weeks in Gaza as a humanitarian aid worker with Glia International and as a reporter with The Intercept. He is a recipient of the 2025 FIJ and Pulitzer Center grant awards. Afeef previously worked for Spotify and The Wall Street Journal’s daily news podcast, “The Journal,” The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, CNN, and as a legal adviser to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. His current reporting focuses on US politics, the Middle East, and queer stories around the world.