Monisha Rajesh | |
---|---|
Born | Norfolk, United Kingdom |
Occupation | Journalist and travel writer |
Monisha Rajesh is a British journalist and travel writer.
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 they returned to England[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 from the Department of Journalism, City University.[4]
Rajesh has worked for The Week and written for The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times and Time.[5]
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.[6][2][7] The book was named as one of The Independent's "Top ten books about India".[8]
She subsequently travelled around the world in another 80 train journeys, writing Around the World in 80 Trains (2019),[9][1] which The Independent listed in 2020 as one of "10 best travel books to satisfy your wanderlust in lockdown".[10] This book won the 2019 National Geographic Traveller Reader Award.[11]
Rajesh won the 2020 National Consumer Feature of the Year award of the Travel Media Awards for a piece in The Guardian about the Trans-Siberian Railway.[12]
She was one of the judges for the 2021 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year ,[13] after her Around the World in 80 Trains was shortlisted for the 2020 award.[14]
In 2016 Rajesh posted to Twitter expressing hope of an assassination of President Trump, then deleted the tweet.[15] In mid-2021 Rajesh 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.[16]
As of 2023[update] Rajesh is working on her fourth book, which will be about "the recent rise in sleeper trains".[17]