Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian Muslim writer of Palestinian and Egyptian parentage.
Background
Randa was born in Australia and her debut novel, Does My Head Look Big in This?, was published in 2005. Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney, Australia on 6 June 1979 of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She grew up in Melbourne and attended a Catholic primary school and Islamic secondary college, obtaining an International Baccalaureate.
Education
Abdel-Fattah studied a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law at the University of Melbourne.
Career
She wrote her first "novel", based on Roald Dahl"s Matilda, when she was in sixth grade. As a teenager, she wrote short stories and produced the first draft of Does My Head Look Big in This? at about the age of 18. Abdel-Fattah has also volunteered time with numerous human rights and migrant resource organisations, including: the Australian Arabic council, the Victorian Migrant Resource Centre, the Islamic Women's Welfare Council, the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
On Australian television, she has appeared on: Insight (Business School), First Tuesday Book Club (American Broadcasting Company), Q & A (American Broadcasting Company television), Sunrise (Seven Network) and 9am (Network Ten).
She is a regular guest at schools around Australia addressing students about her books and the social justice issues they raise. She has been a guest at book festivals in Sweden (Gothenburg 2007.
Lund"s LitteraLund 2008) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur 2008). She has also toured in Brunei and the United Kingdom.
Membership
Abdel-Fattah was a passionate human rights advocate and stood in the 1998 federal election as a member of the Unity Party (slogan: Say Number to Pauline Hanson). She has also been deeply interested in inter-faith dialogue and has been a member of various inter-faith networks.