Monisha Rajesh

Rajesh was born in Norfolk, England, the child of two Indian doctors. The family moved from Sheffield to Madras, India, in 1991. After two years they returned to England 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".{{cite book |last1=Rajesh |first1=Monisha |title=Around India in 80 trains |date=2012 |publisher=Nicholas Brealy |isbn=978-1-85788-595-8}}{{rp|xiii}} She attended King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, studied French at the University of Leeds, and has a postgraduate diploma in magazine journalism from the Department of Journalism, City University.{{cite web |title=Monisha Rajesh |url=https://www.travelandleisure.com/author/monisha-rajesh |website=Travel + Leisure |access-date=14 September 2023 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Monisha Rajesh |url=https://rolibooks.com/digital-magazine/author/monisha-rajesh/ |website=Roli |access-date=16 December 2024}}

Rajesh has worked for The Week and written for The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times and Time.{{cite web |title=Monisha Rajesh |url=https://www.hodder.co.uk/authors/detail.page?id=fkzKu-3eBEg6C6i-Gs6bec6j5To-m9EAz0YLJOks39tj84TSdHMqzCnHOW-S |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |accessdate=13 March 2019}}{{dead link|date=September 2023}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Duff |first1=Andrew |title=Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh: review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/9729460/Around-India-in-80-Trains-by-Monisha-Rajesh-review.html |accessdate=13 March 2019 |work=The Telegraph |date=7 December 2012}}{{cite news |title=Go trotting around India in 80 trains, says book by Monisha Rajesh |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/Go-trotting-around-India-in-80-trains-says-book-by-Monisha-Rajesh/article20513171.ece |accessdate=13 March 2019 |work=The Hindu Business Line |date=11 October 2012}}{{cite news |last1=Walia |first1=Nora |title=Around India in 80 Trains (interview) |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/things-to-do/around-india-in-80-trains/as22755401.cms |accessdate=13 March 2019 |work=Times of India}} The book was named as one of The Independent{{'s}} "Top ten books about India".{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Monisha Rajesh |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/contributor/monisha-rajesh |website=Condé Nast Traveler |access-date=22 November 2023}}

She subsequently travelled around the world in another 80 train journeys, writing Around the World in 80 Trains (2019),{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=P. D. |title=Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh review – the romance of rail travel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/26/around-the-world-in-80-trains-by-monisha-rajesh-review |accessdate=13 March 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=26 January 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Kerr |first1=Michael |title=Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh, review: a triumphant ode to long distance train travel |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/around-world-80-trains-monisha-rajesh-review-triumphant-ode/ |accessdate=13 March 2019 |work=The Telegraph |date=30 January 2019}} which The Independent listed in 2020 as one of "10 best travel books to satisfy your wanderlust in lockdown".{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Stacey |title=10 best travel books to satisfy your wanderlust in lockdown |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/books/fiction-books/best-travel-books-lockdown-non-fiction-novel-india-simon-reeve-a9501271.html |access-date=5 February 2022 |work=The Independent |date=3 June 2020 |language=en}} This book won the 2019 National Geographic Traveller Reader Award in the "Book worm (travel books)" category.{{cite web |title=Winners of the National Geographic Traveller (UK) Reader Awards 2019, in association with Audley Travel, announced |url=https://aplmedia.co.uk/winners-of-the-national-geographic-traveller-uk-reader-awards-2019-in-association-with-audley-travel-announced/ |website=aplmedia.co.uk |publisher=APL Media |access-date=16 December 2024 |date=5 December 2019}}{{cite web |title=Monisha Rajesh wins National Geographic Traveller Reader Award |url=http://www.davidgodwinassociates.com/blog/2019/12/5/monisha-rajesh-wins-national-geographic-traveller-reader-award |website=DGA |access-date=22 November 2023 |date=5 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428033655/http://www.davidgodwinassociates.com:80/blog/2019/12/5/monisha-rajesh-wins-national-geographic-traveller-reader-award | archive-date=28 April 2020}}

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.{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Monisha Rajesh on travel writing, trains and the Travel Media Awards |url=https://travelmediaawards.com/monisha-rajesh-on-travel-writing-trains-and-the-travel-media-awards/ |website=Travel Media Awards 2021 |access-date=5 February 2022 |date=22 March 2021}}
{{cite news |last1=Rajesh |first1=Monisha |title='The Godfather of trains': the Trans-Mongolian from Moscow to Beijing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/jan/12/trans-mongolian-railway-train-london-moscow-beijing-russia-china |access-date=5 February 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=12 January 2020 |language=en}}

She was one of the judges for the 2021 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year ,{{cite web |title=Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year in Association with the Authors' Club 2021 |url=https://www.edwardstanfordawards.com/travel-book-of-the-year-2021 |website=edwardstanfordawards |access-date=5 February 2022 |language=en}} after her Around the World in 80 Trains was shortlisted for the 2020 award.{{cite web |title=Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award |url=https://www.edwardstanfordawards.com/stanford-dolman-travel-book-award |website=edwardstanfordawards |access-date=5 February 2022 |language=en}}

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/10/kate-clanchy-to-rewrite-memoir-after-criticism-of-racist-and-ableist-tropes |title=Kate Clanchy to rewrite memoir amid criticism of 'racist and ableist tropes' |last=Campbell |first=Lucy |date=10 August 2021 |work=The Guardian |access-date=23 November 2023}}

{{As of|2023}} Rajesh is working on her fourth book, which will be about "the recent rise in sleeper trains".{{cite web |title=Monisha Rajesh |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/authors/monisha-rajesh |website=Lonely Planet |access-date=22 November 2023 |language=en}}

• {{cite book |last1=Rajesh |first1=Monisha |title=Around India in 80 Trains |date=2012 |publisher=Nicholas Brealey |isbn=978-1-85788-595-8}}
• {{cite book |last1=Rajesh |first1=Monisha |title=Around the World in 80 Trains |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1408869758}}
• {{cite book |last1=Rajesh |first1=Monisha |title=Epic Train Journeys |date=2022 |publisher=Gestalten |isbn=978-3967040203}}

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|https://monisharajesh.com/}}
• [https://80trains.com/ Around the world in 80 trains website]

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Category:1982 births

Category:Living people

Category:British travel writers

Category:British women travel writers

Category:British journalists

Category:British women journalists

Category:Alumni of City, University of London

Category:British writers of Indian descent

Category:British expatriates in India

Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds