Randa Abdel-Fattah
Randa Abdel-Fattah
Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian Muslim writer of Palestinian and Egyptian parentage. Randa was born in Australia and her debut novel, Does My Head Look Big in This?, was published in 2005...
NationalityPalestinian
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth6 June 1979
CountryPalestine, State of
Randa Abdel-Fattah quotes about
want causes looks
Everything is relative. If you want to understand a problem you look at its cause. You don’t look at its manifestation.
giving-up choices trying
We have to choices in this world; we either try to survive or to give up.
rain hair wind
It's like one of those scenes from a feel-good Hollywood movie. Where everybody is happy and nobody's hair fizzes in the wind. Where it doesn't rain, your shoes stay comfortable all day, and everybody's jokes are funny.
country home people
It is time Australian Muslims stop being treated as negotiable citizens in their own country. It is time people stop 'tolerating' us, presuming some right to decide if we have a place in our own home.
ignorance hair speak-english
Most Muslim women know it is fear and curiosity that cause people to stare. They know it is ignorance and stereotypes that cause people to suppose that a piece of material covering the hair strips a woman of the ability to speak English, pursue a career, work a remote control.
teacher reading writing
One of the first serious attempts I made to write a novel was when I was in Grade 6 and I had read 'Matilda.' I wrote my own version and my teacher had it bound and permitted me to read it to the class - cementing my love of reading, writing and Roald Dahl!
practice diversity hijab
When it comes to the hijab - why to wear it, whether to wear it, how to wear it - there is theology and then there is practice, and there is huge diversity in both.
communication kids opposites
I wasn't rebellious. Other friends had far stricter parents and where there wasn't a relationship of respect and communication, they were usually the opposite; kids go to the other extreme.
kids writing writing-stories
I've been writing stories since I was a kid. I love writing stories.
topics debate hypothesis
When you exist in the centre of a debate, as a topic, a hypothesis - otherised and stigmatised - you become the prop in a proposition.
interesting language notes
You should take notes whenever you hear interesting or original language.
religious children diversity
For me, religious festivals and celebrations have become an important way to teach my children about how we can transform living with diversity from the superficial 'I eat ethnic food', to something dignified, mutually respectful and worthwhile.
attitude smell clothes
We are, at almost every point of our day, immersed in cultural diversity: faces, clothes, smells, attitudes, values, traditions, behaviours, beliefs, rituals.
huge theology whether
When it comes to the hijab - why to wear it, whether to wear it, how to wear it - there is theology and then there is practice, and there is huge diversity in both.