QPEN – the Queer Palestinian Empowerment Network - and Capital Region Queers4Palestine are thrilled to announce that we are putting together an evening with LGBTQ Palestinians to share their creative and political work. The event will be held in Albany in late April. Speakers planned are Mx. Yaffa, Hannah Moushabeck, and Eyad Alkurabi.

We are raising funds to provide honoraria and travel stipends to the speakers coming from out of town and to cover venue costs and refreshments. The event itself will be free, with an ask to donate to the work of the speakers. We appreciate any support you can provide so we can ensure a fantastic evening!

Speaker Bios
Mx. Yaffa (they/she) is an acclaimed disabled, autistic, trans, queer, Muslim, and indigenous Palestinian. Yaffa is the executive Director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD) and has received multiple awards for their transformative work around displacement, decolonization, equity, and centering the lived experiences of individuals most impacted by injustice. Yaffa is the author of Blood Orange, a poetry collection about displacement, colonization, and hope building.

Hannah Moushabeck (she/her/hers) is a second-generation Palestinian American author, editor, and book marketer who was raised in a family of publishers and booksellers in Western Massachusetts and England. Born in Brooklyn into Interlink Publishing, a family-run independent publishing house, she learned the power of literature at a young age. She is the author of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine (Chronicle Books, March 2023). She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts on the homelands of the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc Nations.
hannahmoushabeck.com

Eyad Alkurabi (he/him/they) has been an activist since 2005 and credits his "political awakening" to the signing of the original Patriot Act. He is Palestinian, Syrian, American, Pansexual Queer. Eyad graduated from SUNY Albany where he majored in Political Science with a concentration in Global Politics. He co-founded QPEN (The Queer Palestinian Empowerment Network), an organization that is dedicated to cultivating and empowering LGBTQ Palestinians in movement, in healing, and in leadership, and continues to be active in other intersectional movements.