Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess

MEI congratulates our affiliated faculty member, Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess on her recently published young adult memoir, which is already receiving rave reviews and lots of positive press.

Listen to Dr Sabic-El-Rayess read the first chapter from her book here:

Her book, The Cat I Never Named, tells her story as a Muslim teen struggling to survive ethnic cleansing during the 1990s in war-torn Bosnia, and the stray cat that became an integral part of her family and their survival. 

The book is already the number one best-seller in new releases among young adult biographies, a category that includes books by Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the story check out her PBS Interview about the book here and her Publisher’s Weekly interview here.

Dr Sabic-El-Rayess has also published a related piece in Al Jazeera earlier this month, drawing parallels between the state of current American politics her experience in 1990s Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several websites have highlighted her Al Jazeera piece as one of the top 5 op-eds of week across the global news platforms. Read her opinion piece on Al Jazeera here.

Dr Sabic-El-Rayess is a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who studies how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in rebuilding decimated countries.