In her newly released memoir, Finding My Way, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai offers a candid reflection on her personal journey and growth. The 28-year-old education advocate has revealed that her parents expressed reservations about the book’s forthright nature, which details her life in Birmingham after surviving an assassination attempt at age 15.
“I knew that my parents would have a lot of opinions on what I shared — maybe my mom, because she might be mad at me for opening up a bit,” Yousafzai shared in a recent interview. “But the most important thing for me is that it truly reflects how I feel and what my thoughts are.”
The memoir delves into her years at Oxford University, where she navigated a pursuit of normalcy alongside her global activism and managed the ongoing effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. A significant portion of the book also explores her relationship with her husband, Asser Malik, whom she married in 2021. Yousafzai states that the publication signifies a conscious shift in how she wants to be perceived—moving from a global symbol to a woman actively learning to define her own identity and life.
She also revisits the controversy stemming from her 2021 interview with British Vogue, where comments expressing uncertainty about marriage sparked criticism both in Pakistan and within her own family. In the book, she clarifies that she was privately dating Malik at the time and felt conflicted when answering the question, leading to a public misunderstanding that she held anti-marriage views.
Finding My Way includes personal anecdotes from her secret courtship with Malik, such as a dinner date where she changed out of her shalwar kameez into a pink dress and heels, and another moment where she hid behind a hedge while holding his hand to avoid being photographed.
Yousafzai also recalls facing scrutiny for seemingly minor personal choices, such as wearing jeans while at Oxford. The memoir further documents her emotional recent return to her family’s hometown in Shangla, Pakistan, where she helped inaugurate a girls’ school that will provide mental health support.
“The work that I do for girls’ education,” she affirmed to People Magazine, “is what matters to me the most.”
