The Moushabeck family comes from a long line of thinkers, poets, and creatives from the Katamon neighborhood in Al Quds (Jerusalem). After being forcibly displaced, first from Palestine in 1948 during the Nakba, and then made refugees during the Lebanese Civil War, our branch of the Moushabeck family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York. As newly-arrived immigrants, they found a climate of harmful stereotyping and misrepresentation, if any, of Palestinian culture in the United States.
In 1987, Michel and Ruth Moushabeck started Interlink Publishing, a mission-driven independent publishing house to bridge cultural divides through literature. Their aim was to bring authentic representation from the Middle East and across the Global South to American readers to “change the way people think about the world.” They believed literature is the gateway to a peoples’ soul and that stories have the power to change the world.
Nearly forty years later, Interlink Publishing is still owned and operated by the Moushabeck family and is the number-one publisher of SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) books in the US, with a backlist of over 1000 active titles dedicated to works of literature, history, contemporary politics, art, culture, cooking, and children’s books from around the world. Unwavering in its dedication to platforming under-resourced global voices, Arab heritage, and Palestinian history, Interlink has become a highly-respected thought-leader in the publishing industry, amassing awards including the James Beard Award for Best Cookbook, Arab American Book Award, Indie Book Award, the Guild of Food Writers Award, and the IACP Best Cookbook Award, among numerous others. Its publishing program remains devoted to challenging the unequal power structures that prioritize some voices over others, with the fierce belief that reading these stories enriches our world.
In an increasingly challenging publishing landscape—due to the decline in organic publicity, the rise of pay-to-play media models, increased censorship and de-prioritizing of diverse voices, and the increasing dominance of the “Big Five” corporate publishers—many mission-driven independent presses have been forced to shutter, removing vital pathways for authors who challenge mainstream discourse or represent non-Western cultures.
In 2024, the Moushabeck family began exploring ways to combat these challenges and their implications for the broader culture. Building on a decades-long record of impact, they launched The Interlink Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to amplifying voices and perspectives from the Global South through publishing, advocacy, mentorship and education.
We urge you to support this vital work to ensure important stories continue to reach readers worldwide.