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Onjali Q. Raúf

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Onjali Q. Raúf
Raúf in 2019
Raúf in 2019
BornOnjali Qatara Raúf
February 1981 (age 43)
OccupationChildren's writer

Onjali Qatara Raúf MBE (born February 1981[1]) is a British author and the founder of the two NGOs: Making Herstory,[2] a woman's rights organisation tackling the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK; and O's Refugee Aid Team, which raises awareness and funds to support refugee frontline aid organisations.[3]

Background

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Raúf is of British 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.[4] Raúf was raised in London.

Career

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

Raúf's début children's novel published by Orion Children's Books, The Boy at the Back of the Class won numerous awards,[5] drawing on her own experience delivering emergency aid convoys for refugee families surviving in Calais and Dunkirk.[6] 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.[7] It was a Sunday Times Bestseller, winner of the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story,[8][9] overall winner of the 2019 Waterstones Children's Book Prize,[10][11] and nominated for the Carnegie Medal Children's Book Award.[12] In the same year she was also shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize, awarded to the book of the year by a writer of colour[13] and for breakthrough author in the BAMB (Books Are My Bag) Readers' Awards.[14]

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.[15] This was shortlisted for the inaugural Diverse Book Awards,[16] and 2020 British Book Awards: Books of the Year.[17] It also made the longlist of the UK Literacy Association Book awards.[18]

Nominated for the 2024 Red Dot Book Awards,[19] her fourth book “The Lion Above The Door” tackles the issue of historical racism, shining a light on the stories our history books have yet to contain. Inspired by the forgotten exploits of Wing Commander Tan Kay Hai, a decorated, Singaporean flying ace who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War on at least 190 missions. In researching the book she traveled to Singapore and different museums and RAF bases in the UK to track down records or mentions of him.[20] Eventually finding his grave at Kranji War Cemetery and meeting with his family after an appeal to track them down in The Straits Times.[21]

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.[22] In September 2019, she spoke at A Woman's Place UK conference; her speech criticized the inclusion of transgender women in public places including "toilets or changing rooms, specialist services or a refuge, school toilets or prison cells or hospital wards." She said that regardless of any steps taken to transition, transgender women "will still have strengths, experiences, privileges that we women will never ever have been gifted".[23] That December she talked about "Why children are our most powerful hope for change" at TEDxLondonWomen event.[24]

Her 2021 Barrington Stoke publication, The Great (Food) Bank Heist (illustrations by Elisa Paganelli), was a child's perspective on food poverty in the UK.[25]

In addition to writing for publications such as The Guardian,[26] Raúf is also a contributor to the BBC Radio 2 program Pause For Thought.[27]

Raúf was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to literature and women's rights.[28]

In September 2023, Raúf signed an open letter from gender critical advocacy group Sex Matters urging UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak "to take urgent action to halt an escalating campaign of violence and intimidation against women in the name of 'trans rights' ".[29]

List of works

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  • 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 Great (Food) Bank Heist (2021)
  • The Lion Above the Door (2021)
  • Hope on the Horizon: A children's handbook on empathy, kindness and making a better world (2022)
  • Where Magic Grows: Unique Tales of Wonder and Enchantment (2023)
  • The Letter with the Golden Stamp (2024)

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "Onjali Qatara RAUF - Personal Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Our Team | Making Herstory". makingherstory.org.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  3. ^ "About Us | O's Refugee Aid Team". www.osrefugeeaidteam.org. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  4. ^ Khan, Coco (1 May 2019). "Onjali Rauf: 'My mother said publishing was a white world, but I should always try'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  5. ^ Raúf, Onjali Q. (10 July 2018). The Boy at the Back of the Class. Curnick, Pippa. London, England. ISBN 9781510105010. OCLC 1013483296.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ "Helping nine-year-olds understand refugees". BBC News. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  7. ^ Raúf, Onjali Q. (15 May 2019). Onjali Q. Rauf - The Boy At the Back of the Class - Hachette Children's Group. Orion. ISBN 9781510105010.
  8. ^ 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 12 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Blue Peter Book Awards 2019". www.booktrust.org.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Waterstones Children's Book Prize". www.waterstones.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  11. ^ Flood, Alison (22 March 2019). "Gripping refugee tale wins Waterstones children's book prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  12. ^ "The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards". www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Indies dominate Jhalak Prize shortlist | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Obama, Porter and Thunberg shortlisted for BAMB reader awards | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  15. ^ Raúf, Onjali Q. (2019). The star outside my window. London: Orion Children's Books. ISBN 978-1-5101-0515-7. OCLC 1126253200.
  16. ^ "Carty-Williams, Shukla and Malik shorylisted for first Diverse Book Awards | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  17. ^ "British Book Awards 2020: Books of the Year shortlists revealed | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  18. ^ "UKLA Book Awards 2021 Longlists". UKLA. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  19. ^ "2023-2024 Shortlists – Red Dot Awards". Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  20. ^ ChengCorrespondent, Ian (27 April 2024). "British author looking to connect with family of S'porean WWII pilot who was inspiration for character in book". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 29 April 2024. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  21. ^ ChengCorrespondent, Ian (1 May 2024). "'Thank you to this lion of an island': British author inspired by S'porean WWII pilot finds his family". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 6 May 2024. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  22. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list?". 16 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  23. ^ womansplaceuk (1 October 2019). "The sheer audacity of our existence". Woman's Place UK. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  24. ^ "Why children are our most powerful hope for change/Onjali Rauf/TEDxLondonWomen". YouTube. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  25. ^ Hackett, Tamsin (18 January 2021). "Barrington Stoke partners with Raúf to shine spotlight on food poverty". THE BOOKSELLER. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  26. ^ "Onjali Rauf". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  27. ^ "BBC Radio 2 - Pause For Thought, Vanessa's Pause For Thought: Onjali Rauf on Courage". BBC. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  28. ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N23.
  29. ^ "Prime Minister, will you stand up to violence against women?". Sex Matters. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

She wrote 11 books

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