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.
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 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
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)
^Raúf, Onjali Q. (10 July 2018). The Boy at the Back of the Class. Curnick, Pippa. London, England. ISBN9781510105010. OCLC1013483296.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
