Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, had always been an education activist. In 2009, one of his students was going to write a series of journal entries to BBC Urdu, but her parents stopped her out of fear of the Taliban. Ziauddin suggested that his own daughter, who was eleven at the time, could write the letters. On January 3rd, Malala shared her first entry by speaking to one of BBC’s writers over the phone. For her safety, BBC Urdu insisted that she use a pseudonym. She chose “Gul Makai,” which means cornflower in Urdu, and is the name of a character from a Pashtun folktale.
On October 9th of 2012, a member of the Taliban shot fifteen-year-old Malala on a bus while she was on her way home. The bullet went through the left side side of her head, her neck, and stuck in her shoulder. Two other girls were also shot: Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan.
Fortunately, they weren’t as injured and were in stable enough condition to talk to reporters afterwards about what had happened. The 72 hours after the attack had controlled whether or not Malala would live, as her brain had started to swell against her skull and required surgery almost immediately. She was put into a coma as she recovered from the successful surgery. By October 17th, she had come out of the coma.
After the attack, her story spread almost overnight.
Protests were held, and over two million people signed a petition that contributed to the first Right to Education Bill in Pakistan.
On July 12th of 2013, her 16th birthday, she spoke at and led the first Youth Takeover at the UN. July 12th became Malala Day, in honor of this phenomenal girl. Then October 8th, 2013, just under a year after the attack, the book I Am Malala was published and became an international best seller, sharing her story with people all around the world.
In 2014, Malala was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, making her the youngest winner at age 17. She shared the award with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist.
In 2017, Malala was made an honorary citizen of Canada, the sixth and youngest person to receive this status. She spoke to the House of Commons of Canada, yet again making herself youngest to do something remarkable.