Hannah Moushabeck: Queer, Fat, Palestinian Activist, Children’s Book Author, and Publisher of Palestine and the Global South in Conversation with Elisabeth Paige
Hannah wears many hats. First, she wrote, “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine.” She also has been in the publishing industry for 15 years and in 2023 she joined her family’s publishing house: Interlink Publishing which publishes books by authors and about the Global South. In addition, she sees herself as a “fat, queer, Palestinian activist.”
Her writing journey started as she worked in the children’s publishing industry for ten years. There, a valued area of her job was to promote and advocate for diverse authors. She found herself wondering about her own identity (Arab or Palestinian). She was dismayed to find out that the last picture book published by a Palestinian American about Palestine was published in 1996 and that was a game changer for her.
Hannah started by thinking she would just write a story and if it was no good she could get a real writer to work on it. However, she showed it to a friend who was an editor and she said, “this is your story, why should anyone else write it for you?” and she made an offer on the book. What she really wanted was a book for her nieces and nephews who were getting to be picture book age to read about their heritage.
She panicked when she realized that her book would be the only Palestinian American picture book published in 30 years, so she put out a call for Palestinian Americans who wanted to write children’s books. She used her networking skills to establish Palestinians and Kidlit with its monthly meetups, conversations, and sharing of resources. Since it started, seven members have book deals at major publishing houses.
Her debut picture book, “Homeland. My Father’s Dream of Palestine” was written at first to rectify the lack of representation of Palestinian picture books. The thought about the book began when she had a conversation with a Vietnamese American friend. Their families had both fled violence and persecution, and they had never stepped foot on their homeland. They had these almost romantic notions of what it would be like although it wouldn’t be as it once was because of the destruction of their homelands.
Storytelling in the new land is one way to keep the homeland alive. Hannah’s book was not just written for Palestinians. It’s for anyone who has been displaced and not able to return even when feeling a longing.
In the book she depicts the key symbol which you often see on Palestinian art and social media. When many Palestinian families learned about violent militia coming to their villages, they fled taking with them only a few nights of clothes and belongings and the keys to their homes. But when they came back to their homes there was barbed wire and armed militiamen surrounding their homes and they would be shot if they tried to return. Her family still has the key to their home. It’s still occupied by the Israelis.
She also touches on the Nakba or the catastrophe. In May, 1948 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes. It was the first big expelling of this type in Palestine and largest until 2023 in Gaza. The Nakba remains etched in many Palestinians’ minds because it’s a time when Jews, Christians and Muslims who were previously living in harmony before they were turned into second class citizens.
The Nakba never really ended. Isreal continues to take homes and land from the Palestinians all the way to the present day. But it was a turning point for so many Palestinians.
As stated by Hannah, “Palestinians have been oppressed consistently, discriminated against consistently, and living in an apartheid state since 1948.”
As a result of learning about colonization from her heroes and books, she has become a queer, fat, and Palestinian activist. Discrimination of all three identities are based in colonization and white supremacy. The West’s obsession with thinness came from the desire to persecute people of color. This understanding has helped her accept her own body, which looks very much like her ancestors’ bodies. It’s part of her anti-racist journey. “Once we start realizing that our struggles are interconnected, we realize there’s only one solution, and that is collective liberation,” Hannah claimed and she continued, “I will live and die by that belief.”
Queerness has always been part of Palestinian culture—It wasn’t until the colonization of the West in the Middle East and the fanaticism of Christianity that the Palestinians started implementing homophobic laws. The homophobic laws on the books in Palestine are on the books because of the British. Although she knows that homophobia exists in Palestine, she’s never dealt with it by Palestinians in her own life. All of the homophobia that she has received has been from external communities. When people assume that all Arabs are homophobic, they are essentially erasing the existence of queer Arabs. She knows many queer Arabs. Her existence is a challenge to that racist stereotype.
Similarly, there are beliefs that Arabs are anti-women and less evolved than Westerners, but once you understand the narrative she explains it’s easy to identify and dispel the bigotry.
We then began to discuss post October 7th, 2023 Palestine. As we all know, Gaza was increasingly militarized, with an increase in unlawful detainments, kidnappings, arrests, murder and destruction of property. In fact, a study by two researchers showed that over 600,000 Palestinians were killed with more than half being children.
At the same time, the West Bank has been under attack by the Israelis with an increase in unlawful detainments, kidnappings, arrests and murders.
It’s the worst live streamed genocide we have ever seen unfolding. As exclaimed by Hannah, “It’s a stain upon the conscience of taxpayers in this country.” She continued, “It’s not complicated…we are all humans and we know what is right and what is wrong. And, when we see mass death, mass starvation, and mass persecution of a people, it really isn’t complicated.”
Although Hannah is Christian, many people assume she’s Islamic and therefore she confronts Palestinian and Islamophobia. 15% of Palestinians and Palestinian Americans are Christian. In fact, the majority of Muslims are Asian, not Arab. Stereotypes are used to dehumanize Palestinians and Muslims.
Palestinians are diverse in every way. However, people like to believe that the conflict in the Middle East is just between Jews and Muslims.
I asked Hannah if she fears anti-Muslim phobia. She said that she does given the huge escalation of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate.
We spent a considerable amount of time talking about her family’s business, Interlink Publishing. It was started in 1987 by her parents who were new immigrants to New York City and were disgusted by the lack of Arab and Palestinian representation in the publishing industry in the United States. Her father wrote a book about Palestine and when it was rejected all over the US he decided to start his own publishing house.
Interlink Publishing is not just Middle East but covers books and authors all across the Global South.
They publish everything from children’s books to cookbooks to travel books to literature translation and fiction and non-fiction.
Because Hannah has so much experience with children’s book publishing this is one place she feels particularly comfortable. Whereas, only 4% of the US identifies as Arab American, only 1% of books published in 2023 had an Arab character (not featuring, just at least one character). There are other marginalized voices mostly from the Global South that Interlink Publishing focuses on.
They have a few middle grade and young adult books. They are trying to develop expertise and expand in these areas.
All of the cookbooks are “armchair traveling books.” One can read them without even paying attention to the recipes because of the robust histories and culture within the pages. The cookbooks are almost storybooks. They talk about where a person comes from and their heritage. It’s an easy entry point to understanding different cultures. Many of the chefs are immigrants—first or second. Some hold multiple identities which are explored in the cookbooks. They are often given as gifts and are one of the most popular genres.
The travel books are not as popular as they used to be because of the internet. But they are still important in bringing the world closer to Americans. They bring a well-rounded global perspective. And they are a form of ethical tourism—paying attention to the culture so American visitors don’t do any harm when they visit a new culture.
Political nonfiction books about political history in the US are also published by Interlink Publishing.
Their gift books on art such as rugs from around the world and Middle Eastern instruments are beautiful.
She is particularly excited about a queer Palestinian anthology coming out Spring, 2026. She will even have a piece in it herself, her first adult piece.
When asked what she would tell her ten-year-old self she said, “Shake shame about her identities.”
I love the way she describes herself as, “An unapologetically fat and queer and Palestinian activist.” She said it’s been a journey that she’s gone through with the help of role models to look up to, activists to follow and books to read. Hannah said, “Noones worth and moral standing should be correlated with the size of their body.”
As with almost every author I’ve interviewed, she tells budding authors to read as much as possible, especially in the genre they want to write in. In fact, she read over 2000 books before she started writing her own.
She talked about getting to know gatekeepers such as booksellers and librarians. “It’s not a personal journey, it’s a community journey.”
Finally, to make a difference in Palestine she suggests, Middle East Children’s Alliance and Sumud School in Gaza. Sumud is a school in a tent with 300 students currently and 500 on the waitlist.
I highly recommend listening to this interesting and engaging interview by clicking the link below.