In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different things.Maps
divide the walled Old City into four quarters, yet that division
doesn’t reflect the reality of mixed and diverse neighbourhoods.
Beyond
the crush and frenzy of its major religious sites, much of the Old City
remains little known to visitors, its people overlooked and their
stories untold.
Nine Quarters of Jerusalem lets the communities of the Old
City speak for themselves. Ranging through ancient past and political
present, it evokes the city’s depth and cultural diversity. Matthew
Teller’s highly original ‘biography’ features the Old City’s Palestinian
and Jewish communities, but also spotlights its Indian and African
populations, its Greek and Armenian and Syriac cultures, its downtrodden
Dom Gypsy families and its Sufi mystics.
The book discusses the
sources of Jerusalem’s holiness and the ideas – often startlingly
secular – that have shaped lives within its walls.
It is an evocation of place through story, led by the voices of Jerusalemites.... READ MORE https://www.matthewteller.com/nine-quarters-of-jerusalem/
MATTHEW TELLER
My newest book Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture (Saqi Books,
2024), co-edited with Palestinian friends Mahmoud Muna, Juliette Touma
and Jayyab Abusafia, gathers almost a hundred accounts of Gazan lives
and stories from before and during Israel’s ongoing assault, by Gaza’s
writers and artists, but also its doctors and shopkeepers, its farmers
and students and office workers. ‘A most significant collection, one
that frightens, awes and inspires,’ said Philippe Sands. Suad Amiry
called it ‘essential reading’ and Fatima Bhutto said: ‘Daybreak in Gaza must be shared with the world.’
My previous book Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books and Other Press,
2022) reassesses histories and outlooks on Jerusalem as told through
stories of the communities that live – and have lived – inside the
city’s walls. Jonathan Dimbleby called it “original and illuminating”
and Raja Shehadeh said it “reveals the Old City of Jerusalem better than
any other book written about the city.” It was the Observer‘s ‘Book of the Week’ and a ‘Book of the Year’ in the Daily Telegraph, Geographical magazine and elsewhere.
My book Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008-2019 collects some of my travel, feature journalism and news reporting.
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