Amra Sabic-El-Rayess

Photo by Ingrid Skousgard

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess grew up in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After surviving ethnic cleansing and more than 1,100 days under the Serbs’ military siege, she emigrated to the United States in 1996. By December 1999, she earned a B.A. in Economics from Brown University. Later, she obtained two master's degrees and a Doctorate from Columbia University. Currently, she is a professor at Columbia working on understanding how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in rebuilding decimated countries. She has published extensively on education-related issues and has lectured around the world to adult and adolescent audiences. She is the author of the memoir "The Cat I Never Named."

Visit website |

Awards: 2021 YALSA Non Fiction Finalist, 2021 Cybils Awards for High School Nonfiction Finalist, Best Book for 2020 by Kirkus Reviews, Malala Fund, and A Mightly Girl, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and others.

Survival and Hope in an Unfair World

Three authors talk about writing young adult novels based on their experiences with gang life in Jamaica, their battles with depression in Ciudad Juarez and dealing with ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Their stories reflect the challenges of maintaining hope within a world that is often unfair.

Stocker Foundation Children/Teen Stage (Seats 1000)
Sat, Mar 6, 2021, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Children / Teens
Watch broadcast

Panelists: Desmond Hall, Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Alessandra Narváez Varela
Moderator: Charlene Mendoza