Monisha Rajesh

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Monisha Rajesh
Born1982 (age 38–39)
Norfolk, United Kingdom
OccupationJournalist and travel writer

Monisha Rajesh (born 1982) is a British journalist and travel writer.

Early life[]

Rajesh was born in Norfolk, England, the child of two Indian doctors.[1] The family moved from Sheffield to Madras, India, in 1991. After two years, "fed up with soap eating [sic] rats, stolen human hearts and [the] creepy colonel across the road, we returned to England with a bitter taste in our mouths",[2] and she made only occasional visits to India over the next twenty years: "little more than the occasional family wedding had succeeded in tempting me back".[3]:xiii She attended King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, the University of Leeds, and has a postgraduate diploma in magazine journalism[citation needed] from the Department of Journalism, City University.[4]

Career[]

Rajesh has worked for The Week and written for The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times and Time.[4]

In 2010, she embarked on a four-month journey around India by train, using 80 train journeys to reach the furthest points of the Indian rail network, described in her 2012 book Around India in 80 trains.[5][2][6]

She subsequently travelled around the world in another 80 train journeys, writing Around the World in 80 Trains.[7] [1]

In mid-2021 she, with Sunny Singh and Chimene Suleyman, received racist abuse on social media as a result of raising concerns about depictions of autism and of students of colour in Kate Clanchy's book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me,[8] with Rajesh characterising some of Clanchy's prose as "dehumanising", "racist", "anti-Black", "antisemitic" and "more like something a eugenicist might observe than a trusted teacher".[9] The discussion prompted a reaction, including from authors such as Philip Pullman and Amanda Craig,[8] that Rajesh characterised as racist, writing in The Guardian that "a sinister realisation dawned as they closed ranks and appeared to reply to white critics only",[9] with "a group of white women authors pointedly demean[ing]" the women of colour "as 'activists' who were 'attacking' Clanchy".[9] Rajesh also wrote that the 3 women of colour were "under a coordinated racist attack from the 'alt-right' which targeted our emails and social media".[9]

Selected publications[]

  • Rajesh, Monisha (2012). Around India in 80 Trains. Nicholas Brealey. ISBN 978-1-85788-595-8.
  • Rajesh, Monisha (2019). Around the World in 80 Trains. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1408869758.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Kerr, Michael (30 January 2019). "Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh, review: a triumphant ode to long distance train travel". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Go trotting around India in 80 trains, says book by Monisha Rajesh". The Hindu Business Line. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  3. ^ Rajesh, Monisha (2012). Around India in 80 trains. Nicholas Brealy. ISBN 978-1-85788-595-8.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Monisha Rajesh". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  5. ^ Duff, Andrew (7 December 2012). "Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  6. ^ Walia, Nora. "Around India in 80 Trains (interview)". Times of India. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  7. ^ Smith, P. D. (26 January 2019). "Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh review – the romance of rail travel". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Campbell, Lucy (10 August 2021). "Kate Clanchy to rewrite memoir amid criticism of 'racist and ableist tropes'". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Rajesh, Monisha (13 August 2021). "Pointing out racism in books is not an 'attack' – it's a call for industry reform". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2021.

External links[]

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