Onjali Q. Raúf
Raúf in 2019
Raúf in 2019
Born1981 (age 42–43)
OccupationChildren's writer
Onjali Q Raúf
Onjali Raúf in Dubai as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

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

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

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]

She 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.[19] In December 2019 she talked about "Why children are our most powerful hope for change" at TEDxLondonWomen event.[20]

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.[21]

In addition to writing for publications such as The Guardian,[22] Raúf is also a contributor to the BBC Radio 2 program Pause For Thought.[23]

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.[24]

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 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)

Awards

References

  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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "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. ↑ "BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list?". 16 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  20. ↑ "Why children are our most powerful hope for change/Onjali Rauf/TEDxLondonWomen". YouTube. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  21. ↑ Hackett, Tamsin (18 January 2021). "Barrington Stoke partners with Raúf to shine spotlight on food poverty". THE BOOKSELLER. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  22. ↑ "Onjali Rauf". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  23. ↑ "BBC Radio 2 - Pause For Thought, Vanessa's Pause For Thought: Onjali Rauf on Courage". BBC. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  24. ↑ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N23.

She wrote 11 books

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