Matti
Friedman
Matti Friedman’s first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the Sami Rohr Prize, the American Library Association’s Sophie Brody Medal, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Friedman’s reporting has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, and the Caucasus, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem.
Videos
Matti Friedman and his award-nominated memoir"Pumpkinflowers"
Award History
2016 Finalist
Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfictionfor Pumpkinflowers: An Israeli Soldier's Story
Jury Citation
“In Pumpkinflowers, Matti Friedman offers a heart-wrenching account of a hilltop in Southern Lebanon where young men fought a new breed of guerilla warfare in the 1990s. Friedman, who moved to Israel after growing up in Toronto, was among them, but his unflinching memoir covers ground far beyond the tiny outpost that was Pumpkin. As he assesses the loss of so much human potential with every generation, he renders here a haunting meditation on the very rationale of war. Tragic, graceful, and as provocative as it is poetic, Pumpkinflowers is a brilliant achievement.” – 2016 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury (Carolyn Abraham, Stephen Kimber, and Emily Urquhart)
