Yassmin Abel-Magied
Represented by Molly Ker Hawn
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese diaspora author, broadcaster and award-winning social advocate. The former engineer has published five books, most recently, STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT AGAINST RACISM
(Walker, 2023). Her books include the essay collection TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION (Penguin Random House UK, 2022), and two novels for younger readers, YOU MUST BE LAYLA (Puffin, 2019) and LISTEN LAYLA (Puffin, 2021), which was longlisted for Book of the Year by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. In 2021, Yassmin was awarded the Australia Council Keesing Studio International Artist residency, and spent the year at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Since, she has been selected for numerous residencies and fellowships around the world, including the Sewanee Writers' Conference, Hedgebook, Kimmel Harding Nelson, Passa Porta, VCCA, RUPERT and more. Yassmin also writes for the stage and screen. In 2020, she co-wrote the sold-out immersive theatre production in Kensington Palace United Queendom, and she's been selected for several playwriting courses, including the Soho Theatre Writers' Lab. The Layla series has been optioned and is in development, with Yassmin as lead writer.
Yassmin has presented TV and podcasts in Australia, Britain and the US, including national current affairs show Australia Wide, ground-breaking documentary The Truth About Racism, and Hijabistas, a series on the modest fashion scene in Australia. She is a regular news and current affairs commentator on the BBC, Al Jazeera, and Monocle 24. In print, Yassmin’s social and political commentary has appeared in TIME, the Guardian, the New York Times, The New Arab, the Times Literary Supplement, Teen Vogue, the Independent and more.
An award-winning speaker and globally sought-after advisor on social change, Yassmin has delivered keynotes and workshops in 25 countries. She founded Youth Without Borders at 16, leading it for nine years before co-founding two other organisations in Australia and the UK. Yassmin is currently a Trustee of the London Library and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and sits on the Executive Committee of the Black Writers Guild. Her TED talk has been viewed over 2.6 million times and recognised as one of TED’s annual Top 10 Ideas.
In all her work, Yassmin is an advocate for transformative justice and a fairer, safer world for all.
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