Malala Yousafzai is a cofounder and board member of Malala Fund. Malala began her campaign for education at age eleven, when she anonymously blogged for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Inspired by her father’s activism, Malala soon began advocating publicly for girls’ education, attracting international media attention and awards. At age fifteen, she was attacked by the Taliban for speaking out. Malala recovered in the United Kingdom and continued her fight for girls. In 2013, she founded Malala Fund with her father, Ziauddin. A year later, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts to see every girl complete twelve years of free, safe, and quality education. She is a graduate of Oxford University, with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. Malala’s books include I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Educationand Changed the World, We Are Displaced, and Malala’s Magic Pencil.
Mariam Quraishi is an illustrator and designer based in New York City. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she works in watercolor and gouache. When she’s not thinking about books you can find her day dreaming about the flowers from her hometown in Karachi, Pakistan and tending to her many orchid plants. Mariam is also the illustrator of the picture book ONE WISH: Fatima Al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University. You can visit her online at mariamquraishi.com.
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About the Author
Malala Yousafzai, the educational campaigner from Swat Valley, Pakistan, came to public attention by writing for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban. Using the pen name Gul Makai, she often spoke about her family’s fight for girls’ education in her community. In October 2012, Malala was targeted by the Taliban and shot in the head as she was returning from school on a bus. She miraculously survived and has continued her campaign for education. In recognition of her courage and advocacy, Malala was honored with the National Youth Peace Prize in Pakistan in 2011 and won both the International Children’s Peace Prize and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2013. She is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. Malala continues to champion universal access to education through Malala Fund.
