Mati Shemoelof

Mati Shemoelof (מתי שמואלוף, born July 11, 1972), is an Israeli author, poet, editor, journalist and activist.

His MA thesis was titled, "The cultural and mythical meanings of the appearance of the character of Malcolm X in Spike Lee movie (1992)".

For this work, he received the Dean’s Prize of Excellence.

He was pursuing a PhD in Literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and left in order to focus on his writing.

He taught at Kedma High School in Jerusalem.

He also taught creative writing at Ron Vardi Center for Gifted Children, and was a lecturer of Israeli culture at Minshar School of Art in Tel Aviv.

Shemoelof writing is diverse and includes poetry, drama, and prose.

His works have won significant recognition and prizes.

Shemoelof has published seven poetry books: "The Scar Minimizer" (2001); "Poetry Between Hazaz and Shemoelof" (2006); "Why Don’t I write Israeli Love Songs" (2010); "Appetite for Hunger" (2013), "Last tango in Berlin" (2014).

Some notable ones are the prize for "Best Debut Poetry Book of the Year", awarded by the National Art Trust of the National Lottery, in 2001; the prize for "Best Poetry Book of the Year", awarded by the Haifa Cultural Foundation, in 2006; an Honorable Mention, awarded by the Israeli Haaretz magazine during its annual short story contest, in 2011; Best poetry book of the year (Haifa Cultural Foundation 2006); and the highly appreciated Acum Prize for advocating literature in Israel, in 2013.

Additionally, his play "What Has the Memorial Day Service Become" appeared in the Small-Bama festival at the University of Tel Aviv.

Shemoelof was also the editor of the Israeli literary journal HaKivun Mizrah (Eastward) between 2006 and 2008.

He also was publishes regularly in Israel's leading media channels.

He wrote a weekly column in the daily Israel HaYom (Israel Today), where he also posted literature reviews, and at Mako, the Internet news site of Keshet.

Previously, he was a columnist at an Israeli news website, Ynet, (Israel's most popular news site), NRG -(Israel's #3 news site) at Ma’ariv., and at Walla!, Israel's most popular portal.

He also appeared on TV, including as a panel member on Popolitika (public channel TV); The Owls (culture channel TV); Channel 10 News, and others.

In addition, he co-edited several poetry anthologies: "Aduma" (Red: An Anthology of Class Poetry), which had been sold in three editions since its first release in 2007; "Tehudot Zehut" (Echoing Identities) (2007), an anthology addressing the issues of third generation Mizrahi Jews in Israel, in which Shemoelof's shory autobiographical story "The Icebergs of the Memory" was published; "La-Tzet!"

(To Get Out!), is a 2009 collection of visual art pieces and poems against the war in Gaza.

"La-Tzet!"

represents the ideological unification of the artistic and literary society in Israel, in revolt towards the complex political situation, and it was translated and published in both English and Arabic; "Al Tagidu BaGat", which was published in 2010 and explored the influence of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight on the Hebrew Poetry.

His first short story collection, "Remnants of the Cursed Book", won the 2015 award for Best Book of the Year of "Yekum Tarbut" website.

"Bagdad - Haifa - Berlin" - His first Bi-Lingual collection of poems was published in Germany by Aphorisma Verlag.

Shemoelof was born and raised in Haifa, Israel.

He now lives in Berlin.

Shemoelof received his BA degree from the Department of Theater at Tel Aviv University, and an MA degree in History from the University of Haifa.

"Hebrew from its inner outsiders" (2017).

His first book of short stories was published by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir, the leading publishing company in Israel.

His works have been translated into six languages and gained worldwide attention.

A German translation of some of Shemoelof's literary pieces was done by Berlin's Literaturwerkstatt, which also invited him to Berlin to record him reading his poems on audio.

English translations of his works were published in major journals, such as Zeek, Fusion, and Arspolitica.

An Arabic translation of his works was recently published in several leading literary papers, including ones in Egypt and in Lebanon.

Besides that, his works have been translated to Japanese and Italian.

Shemoelof was awarded several notable prizes for his works.

In 2017 he published the first chapter from his coming novel "The German Hebrew Dialogue: Studies of encounter and exchange" edited by Amir Eshel and Rachel Seelig.

De Gruyter publishers.

Also he published an article about Mizrahim in Berlin on Jalta magazine, volume 2.

On 2018 His first booklet was published in Germany: "...reißt die Mauern die zwischen 'uns' und 'inhen'", AphorismA Verlag, 2018.

In 2018, he also wrote his first radio sketch for WDR channel.

Shemoelof claims that he belongs not only to the Israeli Jewish culture but also to the German culture and he writes: "For an Israeli entering a trilingual space (Hebrew, English, German), culture is no longer bounded by national borders."

In 2020 he published a long article about his belonging to the German culture.