Andy Shallal

Andy Shallal is an artist, activist, and restaurateur, known for founding Busboys and Poets. First established in 2005, Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bar, bookstore and cultural hub for artists, activists, writers, thinkers, and dreamers. After opening the flagship location at 14th and V Streets, NW DC, the neighboring residents, and the progressive community embraced Busboys and Poets, particularly activists opposed to the Iraq War. Busboys and Poets is now located in nine distinctive neighborhoods in the Washington D.C Metropolitan and Baltimore areas.

Shallal has founded or co-founded several peace movement organizations and holds leadership positions in numerous others. Among them are Iraqi Americans for Peaceful Alternatives, created prior to the 2003 invasion, and The Peace Cafe, which seeks to promote Arab-Jewish dialogue. At 800 members, it is the largest such group in the Washington, D.C., area. Shallal is a Peace Fellow with Seeds of Peace, spokesperson for Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) and at one point was chair of the board of trustees for Abraham's Vision, a conflict transformation organization working with Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, and Israelis. Shallal is a recipient of the United Nations Human Rights Community Award and has been named Man of the Year by the Washington Peace Center. He is a Foreign Policy In Focus analyst for the left-leaning think tank Institute for Policy Studies and current board member serving as Treasurer.

In 2010, the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington gave an award to Shallal for his support of the local arts community. On October 12, 2010, Shallal was awarded the Champions of Democracy Award by DCVote for his activism in support of voting rights for the people of the District of Columbia. Shallal is a member of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United) which works to help improve wages and working conditions for restaurant workers.