On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old Pakistani girl, was shot in the face at point-blank range by the Taliban. Overnight, Malala became a global symbol of peaceful protest and education for all—and the youngest person ever to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, she reveals exactly what happened on that fateful day and shares the moving and inspiring story of her determination not to be intimidated by extremists.
“ I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can’t get an education. I want it to be part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school. It is their basic right.”
—Malala Yousafzai
“ They shot her at point-blank range—and made her stronger. In a brutal attempt to silence her voice, it grew louder.”
—Angelina Jolie
About the Author
Malala was born in 1997 in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. Her short lifetime has encompassed devastating changes in her country as it has been transformed from a once peaceful land to a hotbed of Islamic extremism. The Taliban have said Malala, who now lives in Birmingham, England, will be killed if she returns home. But she says she has been given a second life that she intends to use for the good of the people and her dream that all girls everywhere deserve an education.
Co-author Christina Lamb is one of Britain's leading foreign correspondents and knows Pakistan intimately. She lived in Peshawar for two years and has reported from Pakistan for 26 years. She has followed al Qaeda since its beginnings and was the only journalist on Benazir Bhutto's bus in 2007 when it was bombed. She has been named Foreign Correspondent of the Year five times and was awarded the Prix Bayeux, Europe's most prestigious award for war reporting. She recently returned to London from Washington where she spent three years as US editor of the Sunday Times of London. She is the author of five books including the bestselling The Africa House; Waiting for Allah, Pakistan's struggle for democracy; and The Sewing Circles of Herat which was runner up in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers award. The mother of a 13 year old, she cares passionately about education and is a patron of Afghan Connection which sets up schools in Afghanistan and is on the board of Institute of War and Peace Reporting.
