Matthew Teller talks to Atef Alshaer

Writer and broadcaster Matthew Teller discusses a new collection of stories he has co-edited about literature and culture in Gaza.

Daybreak in Gaza weaves together stories about Gaza’s history with war diaries and memoirs of ordinary citizens – artists, writers and poets, farmers, shopkeepers. Together they display the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and the breadth of its history.

‘A most significant collection, one that frightens, awes and inspires, the timeliest of reminders of our common humanity and the irrepressible force of the written word.’ Philippe Sands

Teller is a UK author and broadcaster on place and culture with a particular emphasis on Palestine and the Middle East. He has written on the Middle East for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, and Financial Times and has produced documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service. Teller is author of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City and Rough Guide to Jordan. Here he talks to Atef Alshaer, associate professor in Arabic language and culture at the University of Westminster, author of A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on Gaza.