Onjali Q. Raúf
Onjali Q.Raúf was born in February 1981 and grew up in East London. Throughout her life, Raúf has been a powerful advocate for women and children across the world.
In 2019, 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. Her experience of racism, sexism, and prejudice has hugely informed her work and why she thinks representation in Children’s books is important. It was when being called names that Raúf questioned “why is there no one who looks like me in the books?” (Guardian 2019).
Her childhood reading consisted of a variety of different books from Sherlock Holmes to the Famous Five Books. Some of her favourite reads were Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Five Children and It, The Hobbit and The Adventures of Narnia. However, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ were the stories that got her thinking and feeling about lack of representation among British Ethnic Asian Minorities in Children’s literature. What stood out from Tintin was the fact that it has characters from China and all over the world whereas the majority of books had white middle-class kids as characters. She wanted to write for people of a minority background and believed that it is hugely important to have them represented in Children’s literature; also, choosing topics that are rare for children to read about in fiction like refugees and domestic violence.
One of the main influences on her career was her family, who would borrow books and encourage her to write despite conventional jobs seeming to have more prospects. Raúf describes how “even though my mother would tell me I’d never make any money, that [publishing] is a white world, she always said I should try. The Boy at the Back of the Class is her baby as well” (Guardian 2019).
Pursuing her lifelong interest in human rights and feminism she worked for ‘Women for Women International’ and read Women Studies at a Masters level at Oxford. During this time tragedy struck the family when her distant beloved cousin Mumtahina Jannat, known as Ruma, was murdered by her husband. This experience had a profound effect on Raúf that inspired her to launch a charity – ‘Making Herstory’. The organisation is working to end all forms of domestic violence, abuse, and trafficking crimes perpetrated against women and children. Her second book The Star Outside My Window covered hope and resilience in the face of domestic violence through the innocent eyes of a 10-year-old.
The inspiration for her first book came as she recovered from a life-saving operation. Raúf was inspired by her time spent at the Calais refugee camps where she was working for the anti-trafficking and domestic charity she had founded – Making Herstory. It was there that she witnessed the birth of a boy called Reahan and started to think what it would be like to for him to walk into a school one day. Thus the book ‘The Boy at the back of the Class’ was born. Her latest book, The Night Bus Hero is told from the perspective of a bully, and explores themes of bullying and homelessness, while celebrating kindness, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for the good.
Raúf continues to write books about strong issues for children with great heart and humour. For British writers of colour, her debut was a watershed moment and proved that diverse books from diverse authors have a market and can win critical acclaim.
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