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Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (October 8, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316322407
ISBN-13: 978-0316322409

A MEMOIR BY THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

“I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.”

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls’ education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person’s voice to inspire change in the world.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Yousafzai’s advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

Her family runs a chain of schools in the region. In early 2009, when she was 11–12, Yousafzai wrote a pseudonymous blog for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban occupation, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls in the Swat Valley. The following summer, journalist Adam B. Ellick made a New York Times documentary about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region. Yousafzai rose in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by South African activist Desmond Tutu.

On the afternoon of 9 October 2012, Yousafzai boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. A gunman asked for her by name, then pointed a pistol at her and fired three shots. One bullet hit the left side of Yousafzai’s forehead, travelled under her skin through the length of her face, and then went into her shoulder. In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated their intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai.

The audiobook version of I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai has won the Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album.

Professor Neela Vaswani narrated the audiobook version of the text. Surprised by the nomination, Vaswani was happy to accept the award on behalf of Yousafzai. Forbes has the scoop:

\"I had no idea it was even possible for a children’s book to be nominated,\" said Vaswani, a professor of creative writing, literature and cultural studies…Vaswani accepted the award on the same stage graced by today’s early winners, which range from a cappella sensation Pentatonix to EDM superstar Tiesto.

Youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai, 17-year-old advocate for girls’ education worldwide and author of the bestseller I Am Malala, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The youngest recipient of the prize since its inception in 1901, she was quoted in the New York Times as saying at a press conference in Birmingham, England:

“I’m proud that I’m the first Pakistani and first the young woman, or the first young person, who is getting this award.”

According to USA Today, Malala was in chemistry class when she heard the news, and said she was honored to share the award with Kailash Satyarthi of India, who fights the exploitation of children, adding:

“We should all consider each other as human beings, and we should respect each other. It is my message to children all around the world that they should stand up for their rights.”

Her book I Am Malala, which was banned in private schools in Pakistan, was released in 2013 by Little, Brown.

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