PERSON: Randa Abdel-Fattah

Author

Randa Abdel-Fattah (born 1979) is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is a prominent advocate for Palestinian people and human rights in general, and much of her work focuses on identity and what it means to be Muslim in Australia. Her debut novel, Does My Head Look Big in This?, was published in 2005, and Coming of Age in the War on Terror was published in 2021.

Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1979 of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She grew up in Melbourne, Victoria and attended a Catholic primary school and then King Khalid Islamic College, obtaining an International Baccalaureate.

She wrote her first “novel,” based on Roald Dahl’s Matilda, when she was in sixth grade. As a teenager, she wrote short stories and produced the first draft of Does My Head Look Big in This? At about the age of 18.

Abdel-Fattah studied a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law at the University of Melbourne. During this time, she was the media liaison officer at the Islamic Council of Victoria, a role that afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of Muslims in Australia and Islam. She later completed her PhD, with a thesis on Islamophobia.

Abdel-Fattah is frequently sought for comment by the media on issues pertaining to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. On Australian television, she has appeared on: Insight (SBS), First Tuesday Book Club (ABC), Q & A (ABC TV), Sunrise (Seven Network) and 9am (Network 10). She is a regular guest at schools around Australia addressing students about her books and the social justice issues they raise. She has been a guest at book festivals in Sweden (Gothenburg 2007; Lund’s LitteraLund 2008) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur 2008). She has also toured in Brunei and the U.K..

Abdel-Fattah describes herself as a feminist and has written critical pieces on the situation of women in Saudi Arabia. She maintains that women should retain the right to wear what they want. She has stated that she refuses to discuss the veil any more on the basis that it constitutes flogging a dead horse and detracts from the discussion of other issues.

“We are just so sick to death of talking about the veil, of Muslim women being defined in terms of their dress...We were really fed up with the discourse constantly focusing on Muslim women’s appearance...”

Coming of Age in the War on Terror was shortlisted for the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Prize for Nonfiction, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards’ Multicultural NSW Award, and longlisted for the Stella Prize.

Abdel-Fattah is a passionate human rights advocate and stood in the 1998 federal election as a member of the Unity Party (slogan: Say No to Pauline Hanson). She has also been deeply interested in inter-faith dialogue and has been a member of various inter-faith networks. She has also volunteered time with numerous human rights and migrant resource organisations, including: the Australian Arabic council, the Victorian Migrant Resource Centre, the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council, and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Abdel-Fattah has been a member of the Palestinian Human Rights Committee and the New South Wales Young Lawyers for Human Rights Committee. Abdel-Fattah resides in Sydney with her husband and four children.

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