Malala wrote about life ruled by the Taliban for BBC Urdu at age eleven, under a pen name.  She was greatly influenced by her father, Ziauddin, who ran a school in the Swat Valley, Northern Pakistan, and openly advocated education for girls (forbidden by the Taliban). On October 10, 2014 Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, sharing it with an advocate for the elimination of child slavery.  Two years before that day, on October 9, 2012, a masked gunman stopped her school bus, and shot Malala (then 15 years-old) in the head.  (Two other girls near her were injured.) This assassination attempt was ordered by the Taliban to stop Malala from speaking out for the right of girls to go to school in Pakistan. 

She was flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England for emergency treatment where she underwent operations to save her life and restore facial flexibility.  For her advocacy and courage she was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Award, and is the youngest person ever nominated for and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Nine months after she was shot, Malala spoke at the United Nations:  “They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came thousands of voices … Weakness, fear and hopelessness died.  Strength, power and courage was born.”

Around the world, millions of girls are denied the right to an education.  The Malala Fund is devoted to educating girls now denied that opportunity, to “creating a world where every girl reaches her true potential.”  See:  I Am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb.