# Randa Abdel-Fattah

Randa Abdel-Fattah (Arabic: رندة عبد الفتاح; born 1979) is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is an 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.

## Early life and education

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. She wrote her first "novel", based on Roald Dahl's Matilda, when she was in sixth grade. She 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.

## Career

On Australian television, she has appeared on: Insight (SBS), First Tuesday Book Club (ABC), Q & A (ABC TV), Sunrise (Seven Network) and 9am (Network Ten).
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 no longer discusses the veil, 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..."

## Awards

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. 11 Words for Love was shortlisted for the Children's Award, 2023 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.

## Other activities

Abdel-Fattah is a 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 interested in inter-faith dialogue and has been a member of various inter-faith networks. She has volunteered time with 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.

## Personal life

Abdel-Fattah resides in Sydney with her husband and four children.

## Works

* Does My Head Look Big in This? (2005)
* Ten Things I Hate About Me (2006)
* Where The Streets Had A Name (2008)
* Noah's Law (2010)
* The Friendship Matchmaker (2011)
* The Friendship Matchmaker Goes Undercover (2012)
* No Sex in the City (2012)
* The Lines We Cross (2016)
* When Mina Met Michael (2016)
* "Australian Muslim Voices on Islamophobia, Race and the 'War on Terror'" (Bibliography, Meanjin Quarterly, 9 April 2019)
* Arab Australian Other: Stories on Race and Identity, co-editor with Sara Saleh (2019)
* Coming of Age in the War on Terror, (2021)
* Maku (children's fiction, co-authored with Meyne Wyatt, 2022)
* 11 Words for Love (illustrated by Maxine Beneba Clarke, 2022)