Matthew Teller

@matthewteller.com

1787 Followers 509 Following

Author: FINDING ALADDIN, out Nov 2026 • DAYBREAK IN GAZA • NINE QUARTERS OF JERUSALEM • QUITE ALONE • https://linktr.ee/matthewteller • He/him

Text reads: Opinion: Sderot is becoming the global classroom for how a society under fire turns trauma into breakthrough…
The four co-editors of the book Daybreak in Gaza sit together at a table during the book's launch in London in October 2024 - from left to right: Jayyab Abusafia, Mahmoud Muna, Matthew Teller, and Juliette Touma
Finding Aladdin: the hidden history of a Syrian storyteller, new book by Matthew Teller, out November 2026
“Arbeit Macht Frei” sign at Auschwitz
They Drink, with their Tobacco, a certain black water, which they call Cahwa, made of a Fruit brought out of Egypt, and which is in colour like ordinary Wheat, and in taste like Turkish Wheat, and is of the bigness of a little Bean. They fry, or rather burn it in an Iron pan without any Liquor, beat it to powder, and boyling it with fair water, they make this Drink thereof, which hath as it were the tast of a burnt Crust, and is not pleasant to the Palate. It hath a Cooling quality, and the Persians think it allays the Natural heat. Whence it comes, that they often drink of it, inasmuch as they would avoid the charge of having many Children, nay they are so far from dissembling the fear they have thereof, that some of them have come to our Physician for remedies of that kind. But he being a merry disposed Person, made answer that he would rather help them to get Children, than give them aught to prevent the getting of them. I say the Persians are persuaded this water is able absolutely to smother all Natural heat, and to take away the power of engendering; and to this purpose they tell a story of one of their Kings, named Sultan Mahomed Caswin, who Reigned in Persia before Tamerlane's
Poster text: BOOKSELLING IS NOT A CRIME - celebrating the right to read in support of the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem
After much thought, and with great regret, I am resigning my membership of the SoA. When my friend and co-author - a writer, bookseller, publisher and cultural advocate - has his premises ransacked by police and is dragged away in handcuffs in front of his 11-year-old daughter, then dumped in a cell while police confiscate hundreds of books imported from global corporate and independent publishing houses on the absurd accusation of incitement, and my own trade union turns its back, I cannot let it stand. This statement https://societyofauthors.org/2025/02/13/a-statement-from-the-soa-board/ added insult to the injury. It omits mention of my friend’s name, his identity, his location, his bookshop, the identity of those arresting and abusing him and the facts of what took place. I would have hoped my trade union would have taken this opportunity to illuminate the evils of state censorship and defend those who seek to practise freedom. Instead, it obscured understanding of the issues with platitudes and irrelevant assertions. It was an abject failure. The police were Israeli. The location was Jerusalem. The writer and bookseller they abused is named Mahmoud Muna. He was arrested with his relative Ahmad Muna. They are Palestinian. The bookshop is not a nameless, generic institution: it is a business that trades under the name of The Educational Bookshop. I have no idea why my trade union chose, under these circumstances, to make erroneous claims as to the nature of the democracy prevailing within the country that sent armed police to jail a bookseller, but my suspicion is it may have formed a cack-handed attempt to exculpate the oppressors. Either way, my patience has run out. I am cancelling my direct debit today, until such time as the SoA finds its backbone and starts standing up for me and writers like me. With regret, in fury Matthew Teller
The Israeli authorities must release Mahmoud Muna and Ahmad Muna immediately. There is no justification for their arrest or continued detention. The charges against them are fabricated and malicious, and the manner of their arrest – an undercover raid on a reputable bookselling business established more than forty years ago, followed by handcuffing and many hours of interrogation and detention – is reprehensible. This illegitimate act marks yet another escalation in the suppression by Israeli authorities of the rights and freedoms of the people of Jerusalem. The world has seen the nature of regimes that arrest and imprison booksellers before. The fact that my government in the UK, among others, persists in supporting, defending, encouraging and arming such a regime continues to be a source of profound shock and dismay. The time is long past for Britain and the international community to reassess its backing for Israel, and to condition any future support on the active and immediate dismantling of structures of oppressive control. I am proud to call Mahmoud and Ahmad friends. Both have been a source of strength and professional support to me, and Mahmoud and I have worked together, travelled together and shared a stage together before public audiences over many years. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the work they do in preserving, promoting and championing Palestinian literary culture in Jerusalem. Criminalising booksellers has no place in a democracy. In solidarity with Mahmoud Muna, Ahmad Muna and their families and supporters, I call on the Israeli authorities to release them immediately. Matthew Teller 10 February 2025, 14:00 UTC
Cover of new book OFF WHITE by Rachel Shabi