Randa Abdel-Fattah Official Website - Biography of Randa Abdel Fattah

Bioghraphy : Randa Abdel-Fattah

Randa Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney in 1979. She is a Muslim of Palestnian and Egyptian heritage. She grew up in Melbourne and attended a catholic primary school and Islamic secondary college where she obtained an International Baccaularetate. She studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University during which time she was the Media Liaison Officer at the Islamic council of Victoria, a role which afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of muslims and islam.

During university and her role at the ICV, Randa was a passionate human rights advocate and stood in the 1996 federal election as a member of the Unity Party-Say No To Hanson. Randa has also been deeply interested in inter-faith dialogue and was a member of various inter-faith networks. She also volunteered with different human rights and migrant resource organizations including the Australian Arabic council, the Victorian migrant resource centre, Islamic women’s welfare council, Palestine human rights council, asylum seeker resource centre, to name a few.

Randa has used her writing as a medium for expressing her views about Palestinian human rights. Her articles about Palestine, Australian muslims and the misunderstood status of women in islam have been published in the Australian, the age, the Sydney morning herald, the Canberra times, new matilda, le monde (France).

Randa is frequently sought for comment by the media on issues pertaining to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. She has appeared on SBS’s Insight, ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club, ABC’s Q & A, Channel 7’s Sunrise and Channel 10’s 9am. Randa is also a regular guest at schools around Australia addressing students about her books and the social justice issues they raise. Randa has also been a guest at Sweden’s Gothenburg and Litterlund book festivals (2007 and 2008) and Kuala Lumpur’s Book festival (2008). She has also toured in Brunei and the UK.

Randa is currently living in Sydney with her husband and two children aged 3 ½ and 9 months. She works as a lawyer specialising in commercial and property litigation.

News Flash:

Where the streets Had a Name has just been short-listed for the 2010 ADELAIDE FESTIVAL AWARDS FOR LITERATURE. For more details click here.

Ten Things I Hate About Me was selected, by a joint committee of America's Children's Book Council and the National Council for the Social Studies, as a CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2010.

Where The Streets Had A Name has won the Golden Inkys award! The Inkys are Australia’s only teen choice book awards, reflecting what teenagers want to read rather than what they are told to read. The Inky Awards were created by the State Library of Victoria’s Centre for Youth Literature to encourage reading for pleasure amongst teenagers. http://www.insideadog.com.au

Where The Streets Had A Name has just been selected as a Notable Book by the children's book council!