Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is an advocate for
Palestinian people
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous ...
and human rights in general, and much of her work focuses on
identity
Identity may refer to:
* Identity document
* Identity (philosophy)
* Identity (social science)
* Identity (mathematics)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film
* ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...
, '' Does My Head Look Big in This?'', was published in 2005, and ''Coming of Age in the War on Terror'' was published in 2021.
Early life and education
Abdel-Fattah was born in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
in 1979 of
Palestinian
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
and
Egyptian
''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...
heritage. She grew up in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
and attended a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...
's ''
Matilda
Matilda or Mathilda may refer to:
Animals
* Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder
* Mathilda (gastropod), ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae
* Matilda (horse) (1824–1 ...
'', when she was in sixth grade. She produced the first draft of ''Does My Head Look Big in This?'' at about the age of 18.
Abdel-Fattah studied a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
and Bachelor of Law at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
. During this time, she was the media liaison officer at the Islamic Council of Victoria, a role that afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of Muslims in Australia and Islam.
She later completed her PhD, with a thesis on
Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...
.
Career
On Australian television, she has appeared on: ''
Insight
Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings:
*a piece of information
*the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...
First Tuesday Book Club
''The Book Club'' (formerly ''First Tuesday Book Club'') was an Australian television show that discussed books, ostensibly in the style of a domestic book club. Hosted by journalist Jennifer Byrne, it used a panel format with two regular memb ...
'' (
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon.
Terminology
Although the S ...
'' (
Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
).
Abdel-Fattah describes herself as a
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and has written critical pieces on the situation of women in Saudi Arabia. She maintains that women should retain the right to wear what they want.
She has stated that she no longer discusses the veil, on the basis that it constitutes flogging a dead horse and detracts from the discussion of other issues. "We are just so sick to death of talking about the veil, of Muslim women being defined in terms of their dress...We were really fed up with the discourse constantly focusing on Muslim women’s appearance..."
Stella Prize
The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Bailey ...
. ''11 Words for Love'' was shortlisted for the Children's Award, 2023
Prime Minister's Literary Awards
The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.1998 federal election as a member of the Unity Party (slogan: ''Say No to
Pauline Hanson
Pauline Lee Hanson (''née'' Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian S ...
''). She has also been interested in inter-faith dialogue and has been a member of various inter-faith networks. She has volunteered time with human rights and migrant resource organisations, including: the Australian Arabic council, the Victorian Migrant Resource Centre, the Islamic Women's Welfare Council, and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Abdel-Fattah has been a member of the Palestinian Human Rights Committee and the New South Wales Young Lawyers for Human Rights Committee.
2024 doxxing incident
In February 2024, Abdel-Fattah participated in the
doxxing
Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent. Historically, the term has been used to refer to both the aggregati ...
of over 600 members of a
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make vo ...
group of Jewish Australians, called 'J.E.W.I.S.H creatives and academics. The leak contained the full transcript of the group chat, which totalled around 900 pages, as well as the full names, occupations and the photographs of around 100 members of the group. The release of personal information caused debate in the media on whether their actions were justified, with some Jewish groups and conservative outlets accusing her of
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese
Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...
directed Attorney-General
Mark Dreyfus
Mark Alfred Dreyfus (born 3 October 1956) is an Australian politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and has been the MP for Isaacs since the 2007 election. Dreyfus served as the attorney-general of Austral ...
to bring forward new laws in response to the ''Privacy Act review'' in response to the mass doxxing. The ''Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024'' took effect on 10 December 2024 and introduced several new offences to the federal ''Criminal Code Act'' of 1995, introducing criminal penalties for doxxing.
Personal life
Abdel-Fattah resides in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
Ten Things I Hate About Me
''Ten Things I Hate About Me'' is a 2006 young adult novel by Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. The book was first released in Australia on October 1, 2006, through Pan MacMillan Australia. ''Ten Things I Hate About Me'' was awarded the 2008 ...
'' (2006)
* '' Where The Streets Had A Name'' (2008)
* ''Noah's Law'' (2010)
* ''The Friendship Matchmaker'' (2011)
* ''The Friendship Matchmaker Goes Undercover'' (2012)
* ''No Sex in the City'' (2012)
* ''The Lines We Cross'' (2016)
* ''When Mina Met Michael '' (2016)
* "Australian Muslim Voices on Islamophobia, Race and the 'War on Terror'" (Bibliography, ''Meanjin Quarterly'', 9 April 2019)
* ''Arab Australian Other: Stories on Race and Identity'', co-editor with Sara Saleh (2019)
*''Coming of Age in the War on Terror'', (2021)
* ''Maku'' (children's fiction, co-authored with
Meyne Wyatt
Meyne Wyatt (born 1989) is an Aboriginal Australian actor, known for his stage, film, and television roles.
In 2012, he played a supporting role in the musical comedy film '' The Sapphires'' and also made his debut with the Bell Shakespeare com ...
, 2022)
* ''11 Words for Love'' (illustrated by
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry. She is the author of over fourteen books for children and adults, notably a short story collection entitled '' For ...
Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...