Interview: BTCH Media

12 March 2026 by Yara Jamal

Read here and below.

Publishing Against Erasure

Baraka Books is a Quebec-based independent publisher that has positioned itself as a space for unfiltered political writing that challenges the status quo.

At the centre of that work is Leila Marshy, a Montreal writer and editor of Palestinian-Newfoundland parentage. Marshy is the author of The Philistine and the short story collection My Thievery of the People. Her work, path and life are deeply shaped by displacement, resistance and the refusal to be erased.

Marshy’s father was from Nazareth. In the summers leading up to 1948, his parents sent the children to Lebanon to escape growing tensions. When they attempted to return that fall, they were denied entry.

“When they returned to go to school in the fall of 1948, they were not allowed entry. So my family is essentially and forcibly split between Palestine and Lebanon — the two sides never saw each other again. They mourn it to this day,” Marshy said.

Her father came to Canada as a refugee and found work in Newfoundland, where he met Marshy’s mother before the family eventually moved to Montreal. Marshy’s father was very political and outspoken about Palestine, and because of that the family faced significant backlash.

“There were threats to him, our family, anonymous letters, rocks in windows, vulgar phone calls. He didn’t care, but it scared my mother. He eventually stopped speaking out,” she said.

Marshy’s father often gave speeches in churches and synagogues that were unfiltered and spoke openly about the reality of the Palestinian cause.

“There was zero space to challenge the narrative that (i) the European Jews deserved Palestine because of their WW2 trauma, and (ii) that Arabs and Jews were ancient enemies,” Marshy said.

“For the first, it is a tautology and one does not necessarily lead to the other. For the second, it is entirely and completely untrue. While Europeans persecuted Jews for millennia, they were safe and thriving throughout the Middle East. That only changed with 20th century Zionist colonialism.”

Marshy did not always assert her Palestinian identity as publicly as she does today. Being Palestinian is often met with backlash or hostility, particularly at a time when mainstream media narratives were even more entrenched than they are today.

“People often assumed I was Jewish, and I let them, particularly when I was young. It was easier to do that than have to deal with jokes about being a terrorist or a barbarian,” she said. “I had an israeli prof for political science one year that failed me because my paper was supposedly ‘historically wrong.’ I was so mad but did not contest it at the time. I kept that paper though, and actually I was 100% historically right, I’m still mad about it.”

Palestinians born and raised in Canada have a very different experience than those in West Asia.

In Canada, Palestinian identity is not acknowledged and is often met with skepticism, while the history of Palestine — including the 1948 Nakba — is completely absent from public discourse.

Meanwhile, many Palestinians in West Asian and Muslim-majority countries grew up in environments where Palestine is taught in school curriculums and where identifying as Palestinian is met with solidarity rather than hostility.

Marshy’s lived experience, along with reading and witnessing her father’s speeches, eventually shaped her path. Her work and time in Cairo, Gaza and the West Bank, as well as her experience working with the Palestine Red Crescent, gave her a sharper political lens.

“When you discover that there is an entire machine created precisely to deny and bulldoze your reality––Hasbara––you become a little more discerning about who is saying what and when and why.”

That lived experience also translated into local action. In 2011, Marshy founded Friends of Hutchison, a dialogue group between Hasidic Jewish communities and their neighbours in Montreal. She also campaign-managed and helped elect the very first Hasidic woman to political office in the world.

“I did it because I was their neighbour and a citizen. But having a Palestinian background made me both a better neighbour and a better citizen.”

Marshy has also been influenced by key Palestinian figures, including Leila Khaled, Ghassan Kanafani and Adania Shibli. “Leila Khaled was an early inspiration, something I don’t talk about a lot because of ‘terrorism.’ She was a woman who held a gun, was articulate, and fought for her basic human rights. I idolized her in secret.”

Marshy also points to contemporary Palestinian writers whose work continues to shape Palestinian literature. “I also think Yara El Ghadban’s Je suis Ariel Sharon is a minor masterpiece. As you may recall, former Israeli president Ariel Sharon was in a coma for 8 years after a stroke. In this novel, he is visited by a series of women who confront him about his actions, war, brutality, and force him to confront his crimes. She’s a Montreal Palestinian author, check her out.”

Publishing With Purpose

Marshy first connected with Baraka Books when the publisher accepted her collection My Thievery of the People. After the passing of editor Blossom Thom, she later became a fiction editor.

Baraka Books was established in 2010. Publisher and co-founder Robin Philpot was also the first president of the Quebec-Palestine Committee in the 1970s.

“We are decidedly and enthusiastically pro-Palestinian and anti-colonial, pro marginal voices and anti status quo,” Marshy said.

Razing Palestine

Among Baraka’s recent releases — and Marshy’s latest editorial work — is Razing Palestine, an anthology documenting the consequences faced by those who speak out for Palestine.

The book brings together the voices of many Palestinians and pro-Palestine individuals who spoke publicly about Palestine, particularly after Oct. 7 and faced silencing or backlash as a result.

“There’s no other record out there right now that compiles testimonies and accounts of people who paid the price for speaking out,” she said. “We also included an exhaustive appendix, about which I am particularly proud, that educates on things like AIPAC, Hasbara, CIJA, Honest Reporting Canada, Canary Mission, and more. In other words, the institutions and organizations that work overtime to stifle the story of Palestine.”

Baraka is launching a new series called Traction — brief and urgent texts addressing present-day global crises. “These books will address and confront current issues and are written by people who know a thing or two about them.”

Marshy urges Palestinian writers to continue telling their stories. “A writer’s first duty is to writing. Then again there is the poem by Palestinian-American writer Noor Hindi that begins: Fuck your lecture on craft, my people are dying. So there’s that. It’s a fine line that I try to balance at all times.”

She also points to a number of Canadian publishers that amplify marginalized voices.

“There are a few politically-minded presses in Canada who would probably love to hear from you. Besides us, off the top of my head, there’s Biblioasis, House of Anansi, Daraja Press, Mawenzi House, Trace Press, ARP Books, and many more.”

For Marshy, the message to Palestinian writers remains simple:

“Don’t stop telling your story. Tell it until it is perfect, until the right people hear it, and until it does what you want it to do.”

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BTCH Media is a grassroots media collective amplifying underrepresented voices, human rights stories, and global resistance movements. We combine journalism, art, and storytelling to challenge injustice and inspire action. If you wish to write for us, email Btchmediaonline@gmail.com.