Ronit Mat­alon (1959−2017) was the author of nine nov­els and a lib­er­al social activist. The daugh­ter of Egypt­ian immi­grants to Israel, she worked as a jour­nal­ist for the news­pa­per Haaretz and report­ed from the West Bank and Gaza. Her last book, And the Bride Closed the Door, was award­ed Israel’s pres­ti­gious Bren­ner Prize, the day before Matalon’s death at age 58.