Six things you need to know about Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai waves during an event about the importance of education and women empowerment in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 9, 2018. Photo: AFP.

Malala Yousafzai is a name many are familiar with. The youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in history has been a champion for girls' education. Born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, a city in Pakistan's Swat Valley, she is the daughter of Tor Pekai and Ziauddin Yousafzai. Her father--an education advocate--ran a girls' school in the city, no wonder the emphasis on learning was ever present in Malala's family.

Malala poses for a photograph along with her father Ziauddin Yousafzai (R), mother Torpekai (2L) and brother Atal Yousafzai (L) in her hometown on March 31, 2018. Pic/AFP

In 2007, when Malala was ten years old, Swat Valley came under the control of the Taliban. Their opposition to girls' education was evident as they destroyed about 400 schools by the end of 2008. In early 2009, Malala started blogging under the pseudo name Gul Makai for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)--writing about her life under Taliban rule and her desire to go to school. She wrote her first BBC diary entry at the age of 11.

In 2012, on her way back home from school, a masked gunman entered her school bus and shot 15-year-old Malala in the head. Seriously wounded, she was airlifted to a military hospital in Peshawar and transferred to an intensive care unit in Birmingham, England four days later.

Eventually she returned to school in England after making an incredible recovery - this resulted in an unprecedented outpouring of support for Malala from across the globe. In 2013, 16-year-old Malala spoke at the United Nations in New York City. She ended the year by publishing her first book, an autobiography entitled "I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban." Speaking on her book and a range of subjects such as human rights and education, Malala was among the prominent speakers at the virtual Jaipur Literature Festival 2021.

Malala gives a copy of her book to Queen Elizabeth II during a Reception for Youth, Education and the Commonwealth at Buckingham Palace in London on October 18, 2013. Pic/AFP

In 2013, Malala founded the Malala Fund, an international, non-profit organisation that advocates for girls' secondary education. The fund partners with international leaders and local organisations to invest in on-ground solutions that further quality education for girls across six countries including India, Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

A picture released by the Malala Fund on July 12, 2015, shows Malala Yousafzai giving a speech on her 18th birthday, as she opens a new school in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley funded by the Malala Fund. Pic/ MALALA FUND / AFP

The following year, 17-year-old Malala, along with Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, became a recipient of Nobel Peace Prize. Invested in her goal to promote girls' education, Malala has delivered countless memorable speeches at several international events.

Nobel Peace Prize 2014 laureates Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai and India's Kailash Satyarthi wave from the balcony of the Grand Hotel ahead of the Nobel Banquet following the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on December 10, 2014. Pic/AFP

In 2018, she began studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford and graduated in the summer of 2020. Since graduating, Malala has continued her work to improve girls' access to education, spoken in support of minorities across the globe, and called for better support for Afghan refugees. The 24-year-old activist announced her marriage to Asser Malik via Twitter and called it a "precious day". Here are some photographs of the ceremony.

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