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 Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1996. She then earned a J.D. degree at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

. She worked as a civil rights lawyer at the

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion Religion is usually d ...

and later went back to school to obtain a master's degree in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She published her first book in 2009, ''A Country Called Amreeka''. From 2011 to 2013, she lived in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, Syria. Her memoir ''The Home That Was Our Country'' is based on this period. She also worked as a senior writer for

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazeera' ...

. Her stories have appeared in publications such as ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

''.

Awards

*2016 – Hiett Prize

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. ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malek, Alia American civil rights lawyers American women lawyers American women journalists American people of Syrian descent 1974 births Living people Johns Hopkins University alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni Lawyers from Baltimore 21st-century American women