Onjali Q. Raúf

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Onjali Q Raúf
Onjali Raúf in Dubai as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

Onjali Q Raúf (born February 1981[1]) is a best-selling English author and the founder of the NGO Making Herstory,[2] a woman's rights organisation tackling the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK and beyond.

Background[]

Raúf is of Bangladeshi heritage. Her work is informed in part by her experiences of racism in childhood. "When I started being called Paki, I started to feel [my difference]. I wondered: why is there no one who looks like me in the books? So I wanted to write those characters,” she said in a 2019 interview with The Guardian.[3] Raúf was raised in London

Career[]

Raúf's début children's novel published by Orion Children's Books, ''The boy in the back of the class''[4] draws on her own experience delivering emergency aid convoys for refugee families surviving in Calais and Dunkirk.[5] Inspired by a Syrian mother and baby she encountered in a Calais refugee camp, it portrays the refugee crisis through the eyes of a child.[6] It was a Sunday Times Bestseller, winner of the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story,[7][8] overall winner of the 2019 Waterstones Children's Book Prize,[9][10] and nominated for the Carnegie Medal Children's Book Award.[11] In the same year she was also shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour[12] and for breakthrough author in the BAMB (Books Are My Bag) Readers' Awards.[13]

Her second book The Star Outside My Window covered hope and resilience in the face of domestic violence through the innocent eyes of 10-year-old girl.[14] This was shortlisted for the inaugural Diverse Book Awards,[15] and 2020 British Book Awards: Books of the Year.[16] It also made the longlist of the UK Literacy Association Book awards.[17] On top of writing in publications such as The Guardian,[18] she is also a contributor to the BBC Radio 2 program Pause For Thought.[19]

Raúf was named as one of the BBC 100 Women, a list and multi-format series of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world, for 2019.[20] In December 2019 she talked about "Why children are our most powerful hope for change" at TEDxLondonWomen[21] TEDx event. Up

List of works[]

  • The Boy at the Back of the Class (2018)
  • The Star Outside My Window (2019)
  • The Day We Met the Queen (2020)
  • The Night Bus Hero (2020)
  • The lion above the door (2021)

Awards[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Onjali Qatara RAUF - Personal Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  2. ^ "Our Team | Making Herstory". makingherstory.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  3. ^ Khan, Coco (2019-05-01). "Onjali Rauf: 'My mother said publishing was a white world, but I should always try'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  4. ^ Raúf, Onjali Q. (2018-07-10). The Boy at the Back of the Class. Curnick, Pippa. London, England. ISBN 9781510105010. OCLC 1013483296.
  5. ^ "Helping nine-year-olds understand refugees". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  6. ^ Onjali Q. Rauf - The Boy At the Back of the Class - Hachette Children's Group. 15 May 2019.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Blue Peter Book Awards celebrate the best authors, most creative illustrators and the greatest reads for children". www.booktrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  8. ^ "Blue Peter Book Awards 2019". www.booktrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Waterstones Children's Book Prize". www.waterstones.com. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  10. ^ Flood, Alison (2019-03-22). "Gripping refugee tale wins Waterstones children's book prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  11. ^ "The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards". www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  12. ^ "Indies dominate Jhalak Prize shortlist | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  13. ^ "Obama, Porter and Thunberg shortlisted for BAMB reader awards | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  14. ^ Raúf, Onjali Q. (2019). The star outside my window. London: Orion Children's Books. ISBN 978-1-5101-0515-7. OCLC 1126253200.
  15. ^ "Carty-Williams, Shukla and Malik shorylisted for first Diverse Book Awards | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  16. ^ "British Book Awards 2020: Books of the Year shortlists revealed | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  17. ^ "UKLA Book Awards 2021 Longlists". UKLA. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  18. ^ "Onjali Rauf | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  19. ^ "BBC Radio 2 - Pause For Thought, Vanessa's Pause For Thought: Onjali Rauf on Courage". BBC. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  20. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list?". 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  21. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3wgHkfMorM. Missing or empty |title= (help)


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