Unspeakable Love to Be Launched in Lebanon

I just received this press release from my friend Mai Ghoussoub at Saqi Books.

Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East
by Brian Whitaker (£14.99)

Launching in London on Wednesday 10 May at Candid Café, EC1, Unspeakable Love is the first book to be written on the topic of gay and lesbian life in today’s Middle East;

Guardian Middle East editor Brian Whitaker is a journalist whose wide travels in the region have given him a unique opportunity to meet and talk to people who are affected by the Arab world’s strict taboos against homosexuality;

Saqi is taking the unprecedented step of launching Unspeakable Love in the Middle East on Wednesday 5 April with the support of Helem – the only openly gay rights organisation in an Arab country;

Deeply informed and engagingly written, Unspeakable Love draws long overdue attention to an issue that many regard as too contentious to discuss. Whitaker treats gay rights as fundamental to the wider topic of human rights in the Middle East and provides fascinating comparisons with similar struggles in the West in the 1960s.

‘Anyone interested in reform in the Arab world must read this book.’ Mai Yamani, Research Fellow at Chatham House and author of Cradle of Islam

‘This is an important, timely book, and lucid to boot – a must-read for anyone who believes in human rights.’ Rabih Alameddine, author of Koolaids and I, the Divine

Unspeakable Love will be published on 1 September in the United States. For further information about the launches or to request an invitation, please contact Lara Frankena on 020 7221 9347 or email lara@saqibooks.com.

Brian Whitaker is Middle East editor of The Guardian and has a website at www.al-bab.com. He is available for interview.

Tags: Middle East, gay, lesbian, queer