Poets For Palestine ft leena aboutaleb, JinJin Xu, and Mohamad Saleh.
Join us for a night in celebrating Leena Aboutaleb’s debut poetry collection, Thalassa. Hosted at Boyfriend’s Co-op in Bushwick we will gather around drinks and hear Aboutaleb read from their collection, followed by a discussion with JinJin Xu. The evening will be moderated by Mohamad Saleh. Stay after for the Open Mic and Market! Open Mic sign ups will begin at 7:30pm. Vendors at the Market include Nature by NU LLC, Radix. Special Special, and Mel Hernandez.
To join, please Venmo: @poetsforpal or CashApp: minamorx. Tickets are sliding scale donation $10-$100. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Leena Aboutaleb’s Bio: leena aboutaleb is an Egyptian and Palestinian writer who asks you to commit to the Palestinian liberation struggle. She is the author of THALASSA (Game Over Books, 2026). Her pamphlet, Expeditions of Projection, was released in 2023 (VIBE). Her film, ‘Oracle,’ co-produced with Youssef ElNahas debuted in Venice, 2025. She is a Brooklyn Poets fellow, a Kundiman fellow and McCormick Writing Center scholar. Read her work at www.leenaboutaleb.onl (https://leenaboutaleb.onl/).
JinJin Xu’s Bio: JinJin Xu is an artist and poet based in Macau and New York. She has exhibited internationally at the Shanghai Biennial, the Harun Farocki Institut in Berlin, the Macau Biennial, the How Art Museum, the Immigrant Artist Biennial, and her work has been featured in the New York Times, Bazaar Art China, Academy of American Poets, and more. Xu is also the author of two chapbooks: There Is Still Singing in the Afterlife (Radix Media), winner of the Own Voices Prize, and This Is My Testimony (BWR). Her debut collection, Against This Earth, We Knock, won the Noemi Press Book Award and is forthcoming in Spring 2028. Honors include the Poetry Society of America’s George Bogin Memorial Award, residency at MASS MoCA, and finalist selections for the Ruth Lilly Fellowship and the National Poetry Series.
Mohamad Saleh's Bio: Mohamad Saleh is a writer and producer. Previously he was the Deputy Director of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and his work has appeared in the Big Apple Film Festival and the Los Angeles Animated Film Festival.