Malala Yousafzai working on new book, her ‘most personal’

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai is working on a new memoir, the latest book by the young activist from Pakistan known for her advocacy for education for girls and for surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban when she was in her teens.

Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced the memoir Monday. It is currently untitled and has no scheduled release date.

Yousafzai’s previous works include the million-selling “I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban,” published in 2013, the year before she won the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17. She has since graduated from Oxford University and married Asser Malik, a manager with the Pakistan Cricket Board. Her production company, Extracurricular, has a deal with Apple TV+ for a wide range of film and television projects.

“The last few years of my life have been marked by extraordinary transformation, and all the anguish and joy that accompanies growth,” Yousafzai, 25, said in a statement released by Atria. “This is my most personal book yet and I hope that readers will find recognition, reassurance, and insight in my story.”

Atria is calling the new book a “breathtaking story of recovery and search for identity, a candid exploration of her coming-of-age in the public spotlight, and an intimate look at her life today.” Young readers and picture book editions are also planned.

Yousafzai was targeted by the Taliban for her relentless objections to the group’s regressive interpretation of Islam that limits girls’ access to education. She was shot while returning home from school in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in 2012.

The TTP, or Pakistani Taliban, is separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, and that group’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 emboldened the TTP, which shares the group’s ideology.