Nine Quarters of Jerusalem- A New Biography of the Old City by Matthew Teller, 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.

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

https://www.matthewteller.com/ 

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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