Ronit Matalon

Ronit Matalon was born in 1959 to a family of Egyptian-Jewish descent. She studied literature and philosophy at Tel Aviv University. Matalon has worked as a journalist for Israel TV and for the daily Haaretz, covering Gaza and the West Bank during the First Intifada. She has also worked as a critic and book reviewer for Haaretz. At present, she is senior lecturer in Hebrew and comparative literature at Haifa University. She teaches creative writing there as well as at the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem and is a member of the Forum for Mediterranean Culture at the Van Leer Institute. Two of Matalon`s novels were bestsellers in Israel; her children`s book A Story that Begins with a Snake`s Funeral has been made into a movie. Matalon has been awarded the prestigious Bernstein Prize (2009) for The Sounds of Our Steps.

photo © Michal Hyman

Books Published in Hebrew

A Story that Starts with a Snake`s Funeral (children), Dvir, 1989; 1994 [Sipur She-Mathil Be-Levayah Shel Nahash]

Strangers at Home (stories), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1992 [Zarim Ba-Bayit]

The One Facing Us (novel), Am Oved, 1995 [Ze Im Ha-Panim Eleynu]

Sarah, Sarah (novel), Am Oved, 2000 [Sarah, Sarah]

Read & Write (essays), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2001 [Kro Uchtov]

Uncover the Face (novella), Am Oved, 2006 [Galu Et Paneiha]

The Sound of Our Steps (novel), Am Oved, 2008 [Kol Tzaadeinu]

Books in Translation

A Story that Begins With a Snake`s Funeral
German: Munich, Carl Hanser, 1999

The One Facing Us
Dutch: Amsterdam, Ambo, 1997
English: New York, Metropolitan /Henry Holt, 1998; in paperback: 1999; Ontario, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1998
German: Reinbek, Rowohlt, 1998

Sarah, Sarah/ Bliss
German: Munich, Luchterhand, 2002
English: New York, Metropolitan, 2003

The Sound of Our Steps
English: New York, Metropolitan, forthcoming

Last updated: 15.07.2009