Malala Yousafzai will kickoff the 31st annual Distinguished Speakers Series at Alumni Arena on September 19.
The 19-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner is a women’s education activist in her home country of Pakistan. Yousafzai is best known for her work in advocating for education of young girls, after she survived a gunshot wound the head while riding the bus home with friends at the age of 15. She has since written a novel, I am Malala in 2013, which was an international bestseller, translated into 40 different languages. In the following year, Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient at the age of 17.
She was also named one of TIME’s most influential people in the world from 2013 to 2015.
“Renowned across the globe for her courage and convictions, Malala offers our university and our community the opportunity to engage with one of the foremost advocates for the education of girls and young women,” UB President Tripathi said in an official statement. “Her visit to UB will mark the seventh appearance by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the Distinguished Speakers Series and will continue our proud tradition of bringing compelling public figures to campus to spark provocative discussions about the defining issues of our time.”
Tickets for the event are not yet available, but will be released shortly along with the entire speaker series.
Lindsay Gilder is an assistant features editor and can be reached at lindsay.gilder@ubspectrum.com
