Matthew Teller

Writer, journalist and documentary maker Matthew Teller gives a voice to the many distinct communities of Jerusalem in a new biography that reveals the city in all its diversity.

Teller says Jerusalem has more than the four quarters that the traditional maps show. He talks about the Jewish and Palestinian communities but also about its African, Indian, Greek, Armenian, Syriac, and Dom-gypsy communities and its Sufi mystics. And he looks at the sources of Jerusalem’s holiness and the often secular ideas that have shaped the lives of people living there.

Teller is a frequent visitor to Jerusalem. He writes for BBC, CNN, The Times, Financial Times, Independent and Guardian and presents and produces documentaries for Radio 4 and BBC World Service.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of Jewish and Hebrew culture.