What does it mean to write queer lives across borders, exile, memory and resistance? Palestinian writer and scholar Tareq Baconi joins British-Iranian poet Leilah King to explore storytelling shaped by displacement, desire, politics and belonging.
Drawing on work from both writers that spans criticism, poetry, film and activism, the conversation — chaired by journalist, writer and editor Elias Jahshan — will explore the relationship between personal and collective histories, the role of art in confronting violence and erasure, and queer expression across the Middle East and its diasporas. From Jerusalem, Beirut and Amman to Tehran, Shiraz and London, this is a conversation about language, intimacy, identity and survival — and the ways writing can imagine new futures.