Cirrus@Austlit

Randa Abdel-Fattah grew up in Melbourne where she attended a Roman Catholic primary school and the King Khalid Islamic College. She then studied arts/law at the University of Melbourne and worked as a commercial lawyer in Sydney. Abdel-Fattah has been a member of the Palestinian Human Rights Committee and of the New South Wales Young Lawyers for Human Rights Committee, and an enthusiastic representative of Muslim women in Australian society.

In 2009 Abdel-Fattah was selected as one the Weekend Australian Magazine's ten 'Emerging Leaders' in the 'Society' category. Abdel-Fattah is frequently sought for comment by the media on issues pertaining to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. She has appeared on SBS's Insight, ABC's First Tuesday Book Club, ABC's Q & A, ABC's Lateline, Channel 7's Today Tonight, Sunrise and Channel 10's The Circle and 9am.

Her work includes autobiographical stories, children's fiction, picture books and young adult fiction. She is well known for her YA novel Does My Head Look Big in This? which was adapted into a film in 2019. Her other novels include Ten Things I Hate about Me, When Michael Met Mina and Where the Streets Had a Name. 

Abdel-Fattah has lived in Sydney with her husband and their two children. She has worked as a litigation lawyer and studied for a PhD exploring everyday multiculturalism and racism in Australia. In 2019 Abdel-Fattah was based at Macquarie University undertaking an Postdoctoral Research Fellowship