Jump to Content

Eli Shmueli

אלי שמואלי

Eli Shmueli was born in Jerusalem in 1977 and still lives there today. He has a BA in psychobiology and an MA in neurobiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also studied metaphysics and psychology, all while working at construction sites, psychiatric institutions, and as a porter, among other jobs. Over the years, he has worked at numerous low-paying jobs, usually via employment agencies. They exposed him to the human frailty and weakness which have become the focus of his writing.

Shmueli is also a human rights worker at B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. MarginsMan, Shmueli’s first novel, is based on his experiences as a typist of zip codes at a postal distribution center. It received the Ministry of Culture Prize for Debut Novel (2015) and won Shmueli the National Library of Israel’s 2016/2017 scholarship to encourage young Israeli writers. Shmueli also writes poetry and publishes political commentary in the daily Haaretz and in Palestinian-Israeli magazines.

Photo by: Meytal Weiss

The Books

Filter by