Omer Friedlander | Photo: Yam Traiber

About Omer

Omer Friedlander was born in Jerusalem in 1994 and grew up in Tel Aviv. His debut story collection, The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land, won the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award and was a finalist for the Wingate Prize. The book was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize, longlisted for the Story Prize, and chosen as a Sophie Brody Medal Honor Book. His collection has been translated into several languages, including Turkish, Dutch, Italian, Slovak, Czech, and Romanian. Omer earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge, England, and an MFA from Boston University, where he was supported by the Saul Bellow Fellowship. A Starworks Fellow in Fiction at New York University, he has earned fellowships from Bread Loaf and the Vermont Studio Center. His novel, The House in Talbiya, will be published by Random House in Spring 2027. He teaches creative writing at Columbia University and lives in New York City.