From activist to author: Malala paid Rs 16.5 crore to pen memoirs

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head bythe Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.

Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced that it would release I am Malala in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall.

Story teller: Malala said that the new book I am Malala will be the story of the 61 million children who can't get education. File Pic

Little, Brown and Co will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world. "Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.

A Taliban gunman shot Malala on October 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted ‘Western thinking' and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.

The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland.
Malala was brought to the UK for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school.

Malala said in a statement that she hoped telling her story would be ‘part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school'. "I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realise how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said.

"I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education. I want it to be part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school. It is their basic right," she added.

Publishers did not reveal the price tag for the book deal,but a newspaper has estimated it at $3 million (Rs 16.5 crore).u00a0

Girls' teacher gunned downu00a0in Pakistan
A teacher in Pakistan has been murdered in an attack similar to that on Malala Yousafzai. Shahnaz Nazli was shot dead in Shahkas, near the town of Jamrud in the Khyber tribal district, between the north-western city of Peshawar and the Afghan border. Reports said the 41-year-old was hit in a drive-by shooting. The teacher was on her way to the government girls' primary school in Shahkas when gunmen fired at her.
"The teacher was killed after unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot her and fled," said a government official.u00a0