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The Second Annual Read & Resist Fest took place on Saturday, September 20, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Interlink Publishing, located at 46 Crosby Street in Northampton, Massachusetts. 

Interlink Publishing—the only Palestinian-owned book publisher in the United States— once again hosted this outdoor social justice and literary festival dedicated to collective liberation. The festival featured a book sale, more than twenty queer, trans and/or BIPOC vendors, children’s activities, all-ages workshops, teach-ins, music, and food. Attendees also participated in hands-on activities such as screen printing, letter writing, and zine-making.

The Read & Resist Fest began in 2024 as a collaboration between local organizers and Interlink Publishing to create a space for community building, education, and organizing toward a more equitable world both locally and internationally. Last year’s festival drew over five hundred attendees, and this year’s event is expected to be even bigger and better with grant funding from the Northampton Arts Council and Interlink Foundation. 

 The festival hosted over twenty social justice organizations, including Western Mass Jewish Voice for Peace, Western Mass Asylum Support Network, River Valley Democratic Socialists of America, UMass Students & Faculty for Justice in Palestine, Translate Gender, Collective Power for Reproductive Justice, and many more.

“We wanted to create a physical space where people who believe in social justice and collective liberation could come together, learn, and organize. After the 2024 election, more people have realized that injustice and oppression has been happening right here in our communities. It is more urgent than ever to come together and connect to work towards change. All of our struggles and those around the world, are intertwined.”— Statement from Read & Resist Fest organizers

TEACH-IN/AUTHOR EVENT LINE UP:

11:00 am: 6 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School

Teach-in on abolition by Dr. Amilcar Shabazz and Tom Wiener, authors of In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.

KIDS CORNER: 11:30 am: Palestine Storytime 

Storytime of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine read by Hannah Moushabeck, play-along music with percussion by Michel Moushabeck. 

12:00 pm: Care at the End of the World: Dreaming of Infrastructure in Crip-of-Color Writing

Teach in by Jina B. Kim, author and Assistant Professor of English and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Smith College.

1:00 pm: Palestinian Poetry Teach-in

Teach-in by George Abraham, Palestinian American poet, editor, essayist, critic, and performance artist.

2:00 pm: Everything I Learned About Racism I Learned in School

Book talk by bestselling author and educator of antiracist and social justice education, Tiffany Jewell.

KIDS CORNER: 2:30 pm: Queer History Teach-in for Kids! 

Kid-friendly teach-in by Sarah Prager, author of Kind LIke Marsha

3:00 pm: Immigration Protections Teach-In 

Teach-in by immigration lawyer and activist, Elliot Oberholtzer

The Moushabeck family, owners of Interlink Publishing–the leading publisher of Middle Eastern books and the only Palestinian family-owned publishing house in the US–has announced the launch of a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to sharing voices from the Global South and historically under-resourced communities. 

The foundation, in partnership with Interlink Publishing, aims to inform and expand public discourse on issues of global significance and preserve and archive cultural heritage in the face of erasure and censorship.

The foundation’s initiatives include amplifying banned, suppressed, and censored voices, championing translations to make foreign works accessible to US readers, archiving important cultural works to preserve heritage, providing mentorship and editorial guidance to emerging writers, supporting author tours and speaking events that spark critical conversations, and fostering community through annual writers’ retreats and literary events. 

• In April 2025, the Interlink Foundation was awarded a $100,000 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts.
• In May, 2025 the Interlink Foundation sponsored Queer Kidlit Camp which welcomed 50 queer writers, illustrators, and book workers to a private retreat center in Vermont for education, connection and community building.
• In September, 2025, The Interlink Foundation sponsored the second annual Read & Resist Fest, an outdoor social justice festival which attracted over 1000 attendees. The festival featured a book sale, more than twenty queer, trans and/or BIPOC vendors, children’s activities, all-ages workshops, teach-ins, music, and food. 
• In December 2025, Interlink Foundation will launch an imprint of the same name, distributed by Interlink Publishing, with their first release: Palestine Mapped: From the River to the Sea in Early Geographic Thought by historical researcher Thomas Suárez. 

Founded by the Palestinian American Moushabeck family in 1987, Interlink Publishing has long been committed to representing non-Western cultures in literature. In 2024, ownership transferred from Michel and Ruth Moushabeck to their three daughters and son-in-law. Today, with the launch of the Interlink Foundation, the family seeks to continue their legacy of empowering marginalized voices and ensure that stories from these communities are heard in the wake of censorship and suppression, particularly of voices who advocate for the liberation of their homeland.

“Literature is a gateway to a people’s soul,” says Michel Moushabeck, co-founder of Interlink Publishing and board director of the Interlink Foundation. “Our foundation is dedicated to preserving these voices, building a more inclusive literary landscape, and challenging the status quo.” The foundation calls on individuals and organizations to support this critical work in making diverse stories accessible to readers worldwide.