Malala Yousafzai signs production deal with Apple TV+

Nobel laureate to make dramas, films, documentaries and children's shows through her company Extracurricular

Malala Yousafzai has partnered with Apple TV Plus in an exclusive, multi-year content deal. AP

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has linked up with Apple to produce new programmes to air on the technology company's streaming service.

Yousafzai, 23, and her production company, Extracurricular, are expanding an existing deal with Apple to make dramas, films, documentaries and children’s shows, a blog post on the company's website said.

“I am really excited for this part of my journey because it will help me to reach young women and girls,” she said.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to support women, young people, writers and artists in reflecting the world as they see it."

Yousafzai joins a studio of superstar names who are working with Apple TV+, including Oprah Winfrey, Martin Scorsese and Tom Hanks.

“She is wise beyond her years and I wanted to work with her,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said.

Yousafzai rose to prominence at age 11 after blogging about life under the Taliban.

Four years later, she survived wounds to the head and neck when hit by a Taliban gunman in 2012, in the Swat District of Pakistan, for speaking out about girls’ education.

She graduated from the University of Oxford last year with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

The university is known for producing political leaders, including former UK prime minister David Cameron and Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto and Imran Khan.

After the attack, she was flown to Britain for medical treatment and settled in the city of Birmingham.

She was at school there when she heard in 2014 that she had won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi, "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to education".

The youngest Nobel laureate, she has continued to speak out for girls' education.

In 2018, Apple teamed up with her for the Malala Fund, an organisation extending secondary education opportunities to girls around the globe.