Excerpted from a Michigan Daily article by Patricia Leoncio posted October 27, 2025:

More than 600 students, faculty and community members packed into the Rogel Ballroom of the Michigan Union Friday evening to hear Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai speak. At the sold-out event, sponsored by the Weiser Diplomacy Center and Ford School of Public Policy, Yousafzai discussed her new memoir “Finding My Way” and her thoughts on college, mental health and advocacy.

“College will really help you explore who you are as a person,” Yousafzai said. “It’s through the friends you meet, it’s the experiences that you have. At the same time, I felt like I was living my childhood dream. This is something that I had only dreamed of, to be learning and to complete my studies. I vividly remember the times when the Taliban had stopped us from going to school. The moment when I graduated, it felt like we had won.”

Lahiri concluded the conversation by asking Yousafzai to share advice for young people who are passionate about advocacy and creating change, but may feel discouraged or afraid. 

“It’s important for us not to be scared to step up for justice, because what we are witnessing right now is scary,” Yousafzai said. “When we look at the sufferings of people, the injustices that are happening in communities far away from us, when we’re looking at what’s happening to women and girls oppressed by the Taliban, or schools being bombed by Israel, or children being starved in so many different countries, we have to do something about that.”

. . .
 

LinkedIn post from Professor Madhumita Lahiri:

I recently had the honor of interviewing Malala Yousufzai for the University of Michigan - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Joined by Amb. (ret.) Susan D. Page, we spoke about feminism, social change, and the importance of storytelling.

Malala's new book, and her now-decades-worth of pathbreaking writing, are a great reminder of the importance of literature in times of crisis. Now, more than ever, we need books like hers -- and we need postcolonial studies and the humanities to put it all in perspective.

The full video of the interview is available (temporarily) here: https://lnkd.in/gDrZgifw

Many thanks to Amb. (ret.) Susan D. Page for the opportunity, and Daniel Rivkin and Nayab A. for the expert guidance.