Habibi Means Beloved is now available for preorder

Published by the University of Utah Press, Sept 2026.

“Habibi Means Beloved is an unflinching memoir by Moudi Sbeity. While challenging stereotypes about being Lebanese, queer, and queer Lebanese, the beating heart of Moudi's story is one of family, love and joy. This is a memoir that everyone needs to read.”

—Elias Jahshan, Editor, This Arab Is Queer & This Queer Arab Family

"Habibi Means Beloved is an astonishingly beautiful memoir, written by a poet... It reminds me that poets, like immigrants, are not categories for culture wars, but human beings marked by their experiences. I loved every word of this reflective and poignant window on a human life."

—Netanel Miles-Yépez, author of In The Teahouse of Experience

Moudi Sbeity (Muhamad Darwich Sbeity) is a Lebanese-American poet, author, and contemplative educator. Born in Texas and raised in Lebanon, he moved to the United States at the age of eighteen as an evacuee following the 2006 July war. In Utah, Moudi founded and operated Laziz Kitchen, a Lebanese restaurant celebrated by the New York Times as “the future of queer dining.” Moudi was also a named plaintiff in Kitchen v. Herbert, the landmark case that brought marriage equality to Utah and the 10th circuit states in 2014. A lifelong stutterer, he is passionate about writing and poetry as practices in fluency and self-expression.

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