50 Fun Facts About Malala Yousafzai

Which pseudonym, taken from a folktale heroine, did Malala Yousafzai use for her BBC Urdu blog from Taliban-held Swat?

Gul Makai means "cornflower" in her native language and is the heroine of a Pashtun folktale; the byline kept the 11-year-old diarist anonymous.

Malala Yousafzai grew up in which Pakistani city, evacuated in May 2009 as the army moved against the Taliban?

Mingora, the Swat town where she lived with her parents, two younger brothers and two chickens, emptied when the army's Second Battle of Swat began, and her family was displaced and separated.

Whose shawl did Malala Yousafzai wear for her first speech since the attack, at the UN on her 16th birthday?

Benazir Bhutto's shawl went with her to the UN on 12 July 2013, a date the UN named Malala Day; she had cited the assassinated prime minister as an inspiration since her first speech at age 11.

After the 9 October 2012 attack, Malala Yousafzai was flown to which English city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital?

Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital specialises in treating military personnel injured in conflict, and the city became her home: she finished school there and co-founded the Malala Fund while based there.

Malala Yousafzai's 2014 Nobel co-laureate, a children's rights activist from India, is best known for fighting what?

Child labour was Kailash Satyarthi's lifelong target, and the Nobel citation paired it with discrimination against girls' education; the committee said it chose an Indian and a Pakistani on purpose.

Which British journalist co-wrote Malala Yousafzai's memoir I Am Malala, published a year after the attack on her?

Christina Lamb, a veteran foreign correspondent, co-wrote the book, which came out on 8 October 2013, the eve of the first anniversary of the attack, and sold almost 2 million copies within four years.

Which kind of celestial object, catalogued as number 316201, was named after Malala Yousafzai in 2015?

An asteroid, 316201 Malala, carries her name; the naming came in 2015, the year she turned 18.

The audiobook of Malala Yousafzai's memoir I Am Malala won a 2015 Grammy Award in which category?

Best Children's Album went to the I Am Malala audiobook, making the Nobel laureate a Grammy winner too.

On her 18th birthday Malala Yousafzai opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in which of Syria's neighbours?

Lebanon's school, near the Syrian border, teaches girls aged 14 to 18 and is funded by her charity; at its opening she urged world leaders to invest in "books, not bullets".

An 11-year-old Malala Yousafzai gave her first speech on education rights at which city's press club?

Peshawar's press club heard her ask "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?", a line that newspapers and TV channels across the region picked up in September 2008.

How did the 11-year-old Malala Yousafzai get her anonymous BBC Urdu diary entries from Swat to the newsroom?

Handwritten notes to a reporter, who scanned and e-mailed them, carried the diary out; the BBC had first asked other pupils, but their families thought it too dangerous.

Which newspaper's reporter Adam B. Ellick made the 2009 documentary Class Dismissed about Malala Yousafzai?

The New York Times filmed her as the army launched its offensive in Swat; the paper's reporter had approached her and her father once the BBC diary ended in March 2009.

Which body awarded Malala Yousafzai its 2013 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, a year before her Nobel?

European Parliament members choose the Sakharov laureate each year; she received it in 2013, the same year Amnesty International named her an Ambassador of Conscience.

Which archbishop nominated the 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011?

Desmond Tutu put her forward for the Dutch children's prize, making her the first Pakistani girl ever nominated; she missed out that year but won it outright in 2013.

Which prime minister presented Malala Yousafzai with Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize in December 2011?

Yousaf Raza Gillani handed over the award on 19 December 2011, and at the ceremony the 14-year-old said she hoped one day to found a national party of her own to promote education.

In which year did Malala Yousafzai announce that she had passed her finals and completed her Oxford degree?

2020 saw her pass her final exams in June and graduate with honours, three years after arriving at Oxford from her school in England.

Which climate activist travelled to Oxford University in February 2020 to meet Malala Yousafzai, then a student there?

Greta Thunberg made the trip in February of her host's final year at Oxford, a few months before the finals.

Malala Yousafzai signed a multiyear 2021 deal to produce dramas, comedies and children's series for which streamer?

Apple TV+ announced the partnership on 8 March 2021, adding film and television producer to the CV of a Nobel laureate.

Malala Yousafzai's 2017 picture book, illustrated by Kerascoët, takes its title from which magic object?

A pencil gives Malala's Magic Pencil its name; published on 17 October 2017, it had passed 5,000 UK sales by the following March.

Besides Urdu and English, Malala Yousafzai is fluent in which language, the tongue of her Yusufzai tribe?

Pashto is the language of the Pashtuns, and her family belongs to the Yusufzai tribe that gives her its surname; she was educated mostly by her father, a poet who ran a chain of private schools.

Which British ex-prime minister, as UN education envoy, launched the 'I am Malala' petition after the 2012 attack?

Gordon Brown visited her in hospital on 15 October 2012 and launched the petition, whose main demand was that no child anywhere be left out of school.

Malala Yousafzai's first major US late-night appearance, promoting her memoir, was on which host's show?

Jon Stewart was left speechless on The Daily Show when the 16-year-old described what she would say to a Taliban attacker, and ended with "I am humbled to speak with you."

Which bravery award, Pakistan's second-highest civilian honour, did Malala Yousafzai receive in October 2012?

Sitara-e-Shujaat came within weeks of the attack, in a month that also saw Pakistani officials offer a 10 million rupee reward over the shooting.

In January 2012 Malala Yousafzai received an Award for Moral Courage named after which Holocaust-era figure?

Anne Frank's name was on the award, and a year later a leading US newspaper critic wrote that only Frank's diary rivalled I Am Malala as a moving chronicle of war.

A 2013 painting of Malala Yousafzai by Jonathan Yeo was displayed at which London institution?

National Portrait Gallery visitors saw Yeo's painting in 2013, the year she turned 16 and Time first listed her among the world's 100 most influential people.

In 2017 Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person ever appointed to which honorary United Nations role?

Messenger of Peace became hers in 2017, at 19, the same year she left school for Oxford.

The Malala Fund, which Malala Yousafzai co-founded with her father in 2013, is headquartered in which city?

Washington is home to the fund, a US 501(c)(3) charity whose stated goal is 12 years of free, safe and quality education for every girl.

Which actress made the Malala Fund's first donation, $200,000, after explaining the attack to her children in print?

Angelina Jolie's 2013 gift paid for girls' education in the Swat Valley, and her article had tried to answer her own children's questions about the attack.

Which donor committed $4 million in 2016 to launch the Malala Fund's Education Champion Network?

Gates Foundation money seeded a network of local advocates that by 2017 was set to disburse up to $10 million a year across countries from Afghanistan to Brazil.

When Ebola closed schools in 2015, the Malala Fund bought radios so 1,200 girls could keep learning in which country?

Sierra Leone's government shut its schools during the epidemic, so the fund created radio classrooms for 1,200 marginalised girls.

Which Pakistani body announced a ban on I Am Malala across its 152,000 members, saying it disrespected Islam?

Private Schools Federation members across Pakistan were told the memoir could have a "negative" influence, even as it won awards abroad and a 2014 children's edition followed.

The 2014 children's edition of I Am Malala completes its subtitle 'How One Girl Stood Up for Education and...' how?

Changed the World replaced the adult edition's blunter subtitle, and by 2017 there were 750,000 copies of the children's version in print.

Which UK publisher released I Am Malala on 8 October 2013, a day before the first anniversary of the attack?

Weidenfeld & Nicolson handled the UK edition while Little, Brown and Company published it in the US, and one US critic called it "riveting".

The 2015 film He Named Me Malala was shortlisted for an Academy Award in which category?

Best Documentary Feature was the category, though the film missed the final five; a Hindi-language biopic of her followed five years later.

Promoting her 2015 documentary, Malala Yousafzai performed card tricks on which host's Late Show?

Stephen Colbert watched the Nobel laureate do magic with playing cards during the media tour for the film about her life.

Malala Yousafzai is depicted dating and marrying the title character's son in which comedy sequel?

Zoolander 2 shows Derek Zoolander Jr. admiring and reading her autobiographies before the 2016 film pairs them off.

Which 2019 coming-of-age comedy has its two leads use 'Malala' as a code word meaning do this, no questions asked?

Booksmart's Amy and Molly, played by Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, invoke the name when one needs the other to act without argument.

Malala Yousafzai made her acting debut in a 2024 episode of which Channel 4 sitcom, titled 'Malala Made Me Do It'?

We Are Lady Parts gave her the cameo in its second season, released in May 2024, in an episode both titled after and inspired by her.

Which US women's soccer star wore Malala Yousafzai's name on her back for a 2019 match honouring inspiring women?

Carli Lloyd picked the name for the team's first match of March 2019, when every US player's jersey carried a woman she was honouring.

Malala Yousafzai's second memoir, published in October 2025 some twelve years after her first, is titled what?

Finding My Way came out in October 2025 and took her back to The Daily Show that December, twelve years after her first visit to promote I Am Malala.

Which army operation, also known as the Second Battle of Swat, displaced Malala Yousafzai's family from home?

Operation Rah-e-Rast began in May 2009; her father went to lobby in the provincial capital while she was sent to relatives in the countryside, and the family headed home on 24 July.

Which UN Secretary-General called Malala Yousafzai 'our hero' when she spoke at the UN in July 2013?

Ban Ki-moon also spoke at the session, which drew over 500 young education advocates and several standing ovations for the 16-year-old.

The 2014 Nobel committee said it had deliberately paired Malala Yousafzai, a Muslim, with a co-laureate of which faith?

Hinduism and Islam, India and Pakistan: the committee said the two laureates "join in a common struggle for education and against extremism", invoking Alfred Nobel's own call for fraternity between nations.

Which US president, with his wife and daughter, met Malala Yousafzai in the Oval Office on 11 October 2013?

Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their daughter Malia received her three days after both her Daily Show debut and the publication of I Am Malala on 8 October.

As a child in Swat, Malala Yousafzai said she wanted to become what, before her father encouraged politics instead?

A doctor was the early ambition; in the summer of 2009, displaced from home, she committed for the first time to becoming a politician instead.

Which university gave Malala Yousafzai its Peter Gomes Humanitarian Award in 2013, the month she spoke there?

Harvard honoured her in September 2013, and five years later its Kennedy School added the Gleitsman Award.

Which Scottish university awarded the 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai an honorary Master of Arts degree in 2013?

Edinburgh's honorary MA came four years before she earned a real degree place at Oxford, after A-levels at an all-girls school in England.

Malala Yousafzai's first name, taken from an Afghan folk heroine, means what in her native language?

Grief-stricken is the meaning, after a poet and warrior woman of southern Afghanistan; the title of her 2015 documentary, He Named Me Malala, refers to that naming.

Malala Yousafzai's father Ziauddin, a poet and education activist, ran a chain of private schools under what name?

Khushal Public School was where she was educated mostly by her father, who let her stay up talking politics after her brothers were sent to bed.

Which pop star dedicated 'Human Nature' to Malala Yousafzai at a Los Angeles concert on the day of the 2012 attack?

Madonna also had a temporary Malala tattoo on her back for the show, one of many celebrity responses that week.