Monisha Rajesh
BornNorfolk, United Kingdom
OccupationJournalist and travel writer

Monisha Rajesh 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 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]

Career

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 Rajesh is working on her fourth book, which will be about "the recent rise in sleeper trains".[17]

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.
  • Rajesh, Monisha (2022). Epic Train Journeys. Gestalten. ISBN 978-3967040203.

References

  1. 1 2 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. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Monisha Rajesh". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "Monisha Rajesh". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  6. ↑ Duff, Andrew (7 December 2012). "Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  7. ↑ Walia, Nora. "Around India in 80 Trains (interview)". Times of India. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Monisha Rajesh". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Smith, Stacey (3 June 2020). "10 best travel books to satisfy your wanderlust in lockdown". The Independent. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  11. ↑ "Monisha Rajesh wins National Geographic Traveller Reader Award". DGA. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "Monisha Rajesh on travel writing, trains and the Travel Media Awards". Travel Media Awards 2021. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
    Rajesh, Monisha (12 January 2020). "'The Godfather of trains': the Trans-Mongolian from Moscow to Beijing". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  13. ↑ "Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year in Association with the Authors' Club 2021". edwardstanfordawards. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  14. ↑ "Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award". edwardstanfordawards. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  15. ↑ Dice, Mark (3 November 2017). The True Story of Fake News: How Mainstream Media Manipulates Millions. Mark Dice. p. 218. ISBN 978-1-943591-03-9.
  16. ↑ Campbell, Lucy (10 August 2021). "Kate Clanchy to rewrite memoir amid criticism of 'racist and ableist tropes'". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  17. ↑ "Monisha Rajesh". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
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