Alia Malek Explained

Alia Malek
Birth Date:	29 December 1974
Birth Place:	Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Occupation:	Journalist, lawyer
Years Active:	2000–present

Alia Malek (born December 29, 1974) is an American journalist and lawyer.

Early life and career

Malek was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1974. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from Syria. Malek graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1996.^[1] She then earned a J.D. degree at Georgetown University Law Center. She worked as a civil rights lawyer at the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and later went back to school to obtain a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.^[2] She published her first book in 2009, A Country Called Amreeka. From 2011 to 2013, she lived in Damascus, Syria. Her memoir The Home That Was Our Country is based on this period.^[3] She also worked as a senior writer for Al Jazeera America.^[4] Her stories have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Nation.

Awards

• 2016 – Hiett Prize^{[5] [6]}

Works

• A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories New York: Free Press, 2009.,
• (editor) Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice San Francisco, Calif. McSweeneys Books 2011.,
• The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria New York, NY: Nation Books, 2017., ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

Notes and References

1. News: Snyder. Julie. Alumni Notes. Johns Hopkins Magazine. February 1999.
2. "Alia Malek." Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2010. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000198422/BIC?u=lom_umichdearb&sid=summon&xid=44ca945e. Accessed 11 Apr. 2024.
3. News: Tcacik. Christina. Baltimore native Alia Malek endures war-torn Syria to tell of 'Home That Was Our Country'. The Baltimore Sun. March 10, 2017.
4. News: Spalding. Emily. Q&A: Alia Malek, reporter and civil rights lawyer. The Daily Princetonian. November 21, 2016.
5. News: Granberry. Michael. Syrian-American author Alia Malek captures Dallas' $50,000 Hiett Prize in the Humanities. Dallas Morning News. November 7, 2016.
6. News: Syrian-American author Alia Malek captures Dallas' $50,000 Hiett Prize in the Humanities. 2016-10-07. Dallas News. 2018-02-23. en.
7. News: The Home That Was Our Country, A Personal & Political Memoir of Syria - The Aerogram. 2018-02-20. The Aerogram. 2018-02-22. en-US.
8. News: Baltimore native Alia Malek endures war-torn Syria to tell of 'Home That Was Our Country'. Tkacik. Christina. baltimoresun.com. 2018-02-23. en-US.
9. News: The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria. KING. 2018-02-23. en-US.
10. News: New Book Focuses On The 'Humanity Of Syria' Lost In The War. NPR.org. 2018-02-23. en.
11. News: The pain of losing Syria: On Alia Malek's The Home That Was Our Country. Mada Masr. 2018-02-23. en-US.
12. News: Book review: Alia Malek's The Home That Was Our Country mirrors the tragedy of Syria. The National. 2018-02-23. en.