Amra Sabic-El-Rayess

More than twenty five years ago, Amra Sabic-El-Rayess first became a teacher as a young teen during the Bosnian Genocide. Her lived experience of being an object of hate and ethnic persecution has informed her scholarship on building resilience to othering and extremism via education. She was awarded a 2021 Finalist Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction by the American Library Association and Best Book recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund, Capitol Choices, and Children’s Center for Literature for her nonfiction work exploring resilience to exclusion, othering, and hate. Her memoir, The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival has become part of several school curricula across the U.S. and beyond, as a narrative of moral resilience to hate.