About

Matalon was born in Ganei Tikva

Ganei Tikva

-External links:* *...

, Israel, the daughter of Egyptian-Jewish immigrants. Matalon studied literature and philosophy at Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

 and worked as a journalist for Haaretz

Haaretz

Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...

newspaper, where she covered Gaza

Gaza

Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

 and the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

 between 1987 and 1993. She is a resident of Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 and teaches literature at the University of Haifa

University of Haifa

The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....

. She also taught at the Camera Obscura school for the arts in Tel Aviv.

Matalon is an important feminist-oriental voice in contemporary Hebrew literature, and has published essays on the desire to portray alternative eastern-western characterizations, to the categorizations in existing Israeli literature.

Matalon is also a liberal social activist, and has participated in demonstrations organized by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel

Association for Civil Rights in Israel

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel was created as an independent non-partisan organization to protect human rights and civil rights in Israel and the territories under its control....

. She is a member of the Art and Culture Council of the Ministry of Education, and the Forum for Mediterranean Culture at the Van Leer Institute

Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is an academic institute in Jerusalem established in 1959 by the Van Leer family of the Netherlands.The Van Leer Institute is a center for the interdisciplinary study and discussion of issues related to philosophy, society, culture and education...

. In 2003, she was a co-petitioner to the Supreme Court of Israel

Supreme Court of Israel

The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...

 to investigate the assassination of Salah Shehade.

Awards and honors

• 2009 - Matalon received the Bernstein Prize
  Bernstein Prize
  The Bernstein Prize is an annual Israeli literary award for writers 50 years of age and younger. The prize is awarded by the Bernstein Foundation, named after Mordechai Bernstein, who left money in his estate to establish a foundation in order to encourage young Hebrew writers...
  
   (original Hebrew novel category), for her novel "The Sound of Our Steps".
• 2009 - Matalon received an honorary PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
  
  .
• 2010 - Matalon received the Neuman prize, a literary prize given by Bar-Ilan University
  Bar-Ilan University
  Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
  
  .
• 2010 - Matalon received an honorary PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
  
  on June 6, 2010 for her contributions to literature and for her social activism.

Novels

• Strangers at Home (1992)
• A Story that Begins with a Snake's Funeral (1994, children's book)
• The One Facing Us (1995)
• Sarah Sarah (2000)
• Reading and Writing (2001)
• Bliss (2003)
• Uncover Her Face (2005)
• The Sound of Our Steps (2008)