Layla Saad is a British social-media figure and author. After starting an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

trend #MeAndWhiteSupremacy, she developed her work into the digital ''Me and White Supremacy Workbook''. It was published in 2020 as the book ''

Me and White Supremacy ''Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor'' is a book by Layla Saad published on January 28, 2020. Structured as a 28-day guide targeted at white readers, the book aims to aid readers in identifying the ...

'', which entered ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.

Early life

Saad's mother was from

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, while her father was from

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. They both moved to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, where they met and where Saad was born and raised. She also lived in Tanzania and

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

, United Kingdom, while growing up. As a child, she was a fan of detective fiction. The family moved to

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

when Saad was aged 15. Returning to the United Kingdom for university, Saad received a

Bachelor of Law Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree from

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

Career

In 2017, Saad wrote a blog post "I Need to Talk to Spiritual White Women About White Supremacy". Well received by some, it also received a backlash from some white people. In 2018, Saad started an

challenge under the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

#MeAndWhiteSupremacy, which encouraged people to consider their relation to

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

for 28 days. It was popular among teachers. Following this, she wrote the digital ''Me and White Supremacy Workbook'', which was downloaded by 100,000 people over the course of six months, with public figures including

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...

Elizabeth Gilbert Elizabeth Gilbert (born July 18, 1969) is an American journalist and author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir, ''Eat, Pray, Love'', which has sold over 12 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. The book was also mad ...

Robin DiAngelo Robin Jeanne DiAngelo (née Taylor; born September 8, 1956) is an American author working in the fields of critical discourse analysis and whiteness studies. She formerly served as a tenured professor of multicultural education at Westfield Stat ...

and

Glennon Doyle Glennon Doyle (born March 20, 1976) is an American author and activist known for her #1 ''New York Times'' bestsellers '' Untamed,'' ''Love Warrior,'' and ''Carry On, Warrior''. Doyle is also the creator of the online community Momastery, and is ...

endorsing the book. In 2020, this work was developed into her first book, ''

''. The book reached number 10 on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list on 16 February 2020, in the category Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction. As of 2019, a young readers' edition to the book is planned. The book received renewed attention following the May 2020

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

and subsequent protests, with a surge in sales of books about race. The book reached number five on the ''New York Times'' Hardcover Nonfiction list on 12 July 2020. It was third on the Sunday Times Bestsellers list on 26 June 2020. On the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

sales website

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

, the book was sixth in non-fiction sales for the week ending 5 June 2020. Saad hosts the ''Good Ancestor Podcast'', interviewing people about "ancestors" in their family or in wider society who have influenced them.

Personal life

Saad lives in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

. She is married and has two children, Maya and Mohamed. Saad is a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Works

* Saad, Layla (2020). ''

''. Sourcebooks.

References

External links