{{short description|British author}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Layla Saad | birth_date = | birth_place = Wales, UK | occupation = Social-media figure, author | education = Lancaster University (LL.B.) }} '''Layla Saad''' is a British social-media figure and author. After starting an Instagram 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'', which entered ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.
==Early life== Saad's mother was from Zanzibar, Tanzania, while her father was from Mombasa, Kenya. They both moved to Wales, where they met and where Saad was born and raised. She also lived in Tanzania and Swindon, United Kingdom, while growing up.<ref name="elle">{{cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a25437280/layla-saad-me-and-white-supremacy-book/|title=Layla Saad Started An Instagram Challenge To Dismantle White Supremacy. Now It's A Best-Selling Book.|work=Elle|last=Semaan|first=Céline|date=December 7, 2018|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> As a child, she was a fan of detective fiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://americanwritersmuseum.org/in-their-own-words-layla-saad/|title=In Their Own Words: Layla Saad|publisher=American Writers Museum|date=January 28, 2020|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> The family moved to Qatar when Saad was aged 15.<ref name="elle"/> Returning to the United Kingdom for university, Saad received a Bachelor of Law degree from Lancaster University.<ref name="M&WS book">{{Cite web|url=https://www.meandwhitesupremacybook.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102210325/https://www.meandwhitesupremacybook.com/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2 January 2019|title=Me And White Supremacy|website=Me And White Supremacy|language=en-US|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>
==Career== In 2017, Saad wrote a blog post "I Need to Talk to Spiritual White Women About White Supremacy".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/05/9830372/white-privilege-definition|title=Me & White Supremacy: How To Check Your White Privilege|work=Refinery29|last=Beaty|first=Zoe|date=May 25, 2020|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> Well received by some, it also received a backlash from some white people.<ref name="PW"/> In 2018, Saad started an Instagram challenge under the hashtag #MeAndWhiteSupremacy, which encouraged people to consider their relation to white supremacy for 28 days. It was popular among teachers.<ref name="tolerance">{{cite magazine |last=Van Der Valk |first=Adrienne |date=2019 |title=You and White Supremacy: A Challenge to Educators |url=https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/summer-2019/you-and-white-supremacy-a-challenge-to-educators |magazine=Tolerance |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |issue=62 |access-date=June 13, 2020 }}</ref> 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, Elizabeth Gilbert, Robin DiAngelo and Glennon Doyle endorsing the book.<ref name="M&WS book"/><ref name="PW"/>
In 2020, this work was developed into her first book, ''Me and White Supremacy''.<ref name="M&WS book"/><ref name="PW"/> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2020/02/16/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/|title=Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers – Feb. 16, 2020 – The New York Times|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 13, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As of 2019, a young readers' edition to the book is planned.<ref name="PW">{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/81983-doing-the-work-of-antiracism-spotlight-on-layla-f-saad.html|title=Doing the Work of Antiracism: Spotlight on Layla F. Saad|work=Publishers Weekly|access-date=February 24, 2020}}</ref> The book received renewed attention following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/hardcover-nonfiction/|title=These Authors Are Glad You're Buying Their Books. Now Do the Work.|work=The New York Times|last=Egan|first=Elisabeth|date=July 12, 2020|access-date=July 3, 2020}}</ref> It was third on the Sunday Times Bestsellers list on 26 June 2020.<ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=The Sunday Times Bestsellers List 26th June 2020|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/sunday-times-bestsellers-list-book-sales-chart-2023-wtf0fg8v7|access-date=|website=}}</ref> On the audiobook sales website Audible, the book was sixth in non-fiction sales for the week ending 5 June 2020.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/audible-best-sellers-for-week-ending-june-5/2020/06/09/1982935e-aa86-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613103011/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/audible-best-sellers-for-week-ending-june-5/2020/06/09/1982935e-aa86-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2020|title=Audible best-sellers for week ending June 5|newspaper=Washington Post|date=June 9, 2020|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>
Saad hosts the ''Good Ancestor Podcast'', interviewing people about "ancestors" in their family or in wider society who have influenced them.<ref name="PW"/>
==Personal life== Saad lives in Doha, Qatar. She is married and has two children, Maya and Mohamed.<ref name="M&WS book"/> Saad is a Muslim.<ref name="M&WS book"/>
== Works == * Saad, Layla (2020). ''Me and White Supremacy''. Sourcebooks. {{ISBN|1529405084}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite web|url=https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/what-is-white-privilege|title=One writer reveals how to recognise and dismantle your white privilege|work=Glamour|last=Saad|first=Layla|date=January 29, 2020}} * {{cite web|url=https://jezebel.com/even-good-allies-are-probably-complicit-layla-saad-on-1841812239|title=Even 'Good Allies' Are Probably Complicit: Layla Saad on Countering White Supremacy|work=Jezebel|last=Fischer|first=Lisa|date=February 20, 2020}}
==External links== *{{C-SPAN|124914}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saad, Layla}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:British anti-racism activists Category:British non-fiction writers Category:21st-century British women writers Category:Alumni of Lancaster University Category:Black British women writers Category:Qatari Muslims Category:British social media influencers Category:British Muslims Category:British people of Tanzanian descent Category:Welsh people of African descent Category:British people of Kenyan descent Category:Black British writers Category:People from Swindon