El Ghourabaa: A Queer and Trans Collection of Oddities

by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch (Editor), Samia Marshy (editor)

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: Etel Adnan, Rabih Alameddine, Joe Kadi, Marlin M. Jenkins, 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, Micaela Kaibni Raen, Nour Kamel, and Barrak Alzaid.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Anthologies, Queer Lit, Short Stories

176 pages, Paperback

Published July 5, 2024

About the author

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch is a queer Arab poet living in Tio'tia:ke, unceded Kanien'kehá:ka territory. 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. You can find them on Instagram and Twitter @theonlyelitareq. Their book knot body was published by Metatron Press in September 2020. The Good Arabs is their second poetry collection.

Reviews

[Nannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

El Ghourabaa is a slim anthology of “oddities” by twenty-four poets and short story writers. Despite the topic, I was disappointed to find only a handful of them to fit the bill of being “uncanny, fun, experimental, creepy, sarcastic, playful, vulgar, inventive, sexual, weird, sweet, and evocative.” But like all anthologies, reading this was a fantastic way to find new authors to check out.

And like all anthologies, it’s also a fairly mixed bag as far as quality and my own personal level of enjoyment go. While I thought a few of them were stunning (like "Limbo" by Yehia Anas Sabaa, "The Oldest Language I Know" by Sarah O'Neal, and "In America, Where All Lives Matter and All Arabs Are White" by Bazeed), others were incredibly mundane, given the subject matter, or incomprehensible (to me, of course).

Picking up indie anthologies is still one of my favorite things to do (thank you to my library, who’s always amazing at supporting these projects), but this one wasn’t as enjoyable for me as past ones have been. That cover, though, is fantastic.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of Arab/SWANA & Arabophone queer writing. A homage to the lineages and complexities of queer Arab life, and what it means to be both when these identities are deemed incongruous.

I'm truly at a loss for words. This was beautiful, heartbreaking, disorienting, absorbing, familiar, & uncomfortable. Given our times of heightened global violence, I think this is an extremely important and necessary read. Although each story, poem, or essay, brings a unique perspective, the anthology as a whole really speaks to the difficult truth (for some) that while our experiences are idiosyncratic, they are also shared (& political).

Couldn't recommend this enough for its discussion of not only the intersectionality of simultaneously existing as queer + arab, but also because of the discussions on anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, & anti-zionism.

[Rhea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just like with any anthology, a bit of a mixed bag, but enjoyable

[Matthew Molinaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

metonymy press really out here doing it like no one else!

what a glorious collection of queer and trans Arab and arabophone writers from the diaspora.

the anthology daringly matches newer Arab voices in Canada (including Montrealers like Ralph Haddad, Leila Marshy, and Sherine Elbanhawy) with the presence of genius elders (Rabih Alameddine, Etel Adnan, and Trish Salah, you all have my heart!) who would be supporting the collection with their work. Editor Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch's piece "The Spa" is an absolute knock-out, I cannot wait to read more work from their careful pen.

[WallofText · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting collection! There were some truly stunning pieces in here, my favourites being Heritage, In America, Where All Lives Matter and All Arabs Are White, Allah and i attend 6th grade sex ed, Maraschino (Cerise au marasquin), and Arabic. Very varied perspectives and I enjoyed the unique vocabulary and intersections of languages. As with most collections not everything worked for me, in particular the extracts of longer works. Overall I would recommend it though!

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of queer and trans Arabs and Arabophones texts. “Poems, non-fiction pieces, and stories that are not what they seem. Pieces that pull you in and when they're done with you spit you out, covered in slime and dust and gunpowder and sex.”

Nice introduction to several authors.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lot of interesting points of view you won’t find elsewhere.

[Layan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was my emergency bedtime book for the longest time and I thought it was just ok. Overall collection was meh tbh which makes me sad bc I wanted to like it!!

[Nikan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to like it but the collection overall was meh with only a few good ones.

[Roshni · Rating 4 out of 5]

a mix!! i really loved some, but others didn't connect with me. it's literally an anthology though like what else is there to expect