Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning. Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.

I fear my tipping point into madness is "Thus is un-American" posts in response to ICE terrorizing immigrants. I beg you to open Wikipedia (I would say a book but let's start small) and read up on The Trail of Tears, Fugitive Slave Catchers, Japanese internment, Indian Boarding schools & Jim Crow

Start the week with me on Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s podcast Spinning Plates - talking trains and travel with kids! sophieellisbextor.komi.io/podcast/8150...

London’s homicide rate drops to lowest in more than a decade

Sleigh rides, sleeper trains and reindeer stew. Here’s my final piece for the year on Finland’s Santa Claus Express! www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Every time there's a breaking story about a celeb's treatment of women, everyone in the book world asks, "Is it finally Walliams?" Well, it finally is.

Having appeared on it three times, I can 100% confirm that @robinince.bsky.social *IS* the #InfiniteMonkeyCage. Without him, it doesn’t even exist as a concept 🤷🏾‍♂️

America 250 is going to be unbearable, unless it is celebrated in the only sincere and meaningful way: by a revolution overthrowing tyranny

🎉🎉 Thrilled to be shortlisted for the @stanfordstravel.bsky.social Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award. And in such fine company. Thank you to Stanfords for being such a champion of travel writing. 🎉🎉🎉

I had so much fun writing this piece on sleeper trains and winter night trains in particular. Ever heard of the Doğu Express in Türkiye? If not, then read on. www.outsideonline.com/adventure-tr...

I haven't been on a sleeper train since I was about 19 but after reading Monisha's book it's time to get back to it.

I thought I could not be shocked by what prominent transphobes feel able to say about me. Turns out I was wrong. Here is Richard Dunstan, a prominent commentator closely associated with the Sex Matters charity, speculating that I enjoyed being sexually assaulted as a child.

It's the time of year when people are putting out lists of best books of the year. So why not tell an author you've loved their book this year? Because not being on those lists makes many authors sad. You can make them happy!

Five-minute timeline cleanse: I wrote about falling in love with sleeper trains in India in 1991. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...?

My travel books of the year, including work from @monisharajesh.bsky.social, Lyse Doucet, Norman Lewis, @joannapocock.bsky.social, @adamweymouth.bsky.social & @peteralanross.bsky.social: deskboundtraveller.com/my-books-of-....

Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷

My friend Soad has her account back! Can you share it widely, and her fundraiser? Rebuilding in a fragile peace is such an uphill struggle. There's so much she needs to get hold of and work out. #MutualAid

Fellow train nerds! Book collectors! Fans of @monisharajesh.bsky.social! Any of the above! Bid on this signed edition of the brilliant Moonlight Express in the #Creatives4Sudan auction. Over £6k raised now, but let's shoot for £10k! app.galabid.com/creatives4su... (Art below by @raafaye on insta.)

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

If someone thinks you can have racist behaviour that is not in a hurtful or insulting way, they're 100% massively racist.

A book I’m looking forward to #BlueBrewBooks

ICYMI: Submissions for the 10th year of the Jhalak Prize are open 👇 #BookSky

The horror of Russia’s war against Ukraine’s children was brought home once again when I visited the Save Ukraine Centre, which rescues the stolen children & those under occupation www.opendemocracy.net/en/ukraine-r...

It’s time to stop claiming people are ‘cancelled’ on.ft.com/4r6sBEy | opinion

LONDON FRIENDS! Tomorrow I will be at the WriteIdea Festival in Tower Hamlets, talking about Moonlight Express at 1pm with the brilliant @profsunnysingh.bsky.social - tickets are free! So come along! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/monisha-ra...

My lovely local indie @qpbooks.bsky.social has 20% off today and they have a nice healthy stock of Moonlight Express if you have any train and travel enthusiast friends and family who might like to find it under the Christmas tree!

Writers including David Nicholls, Katherine Rundell, Katherine Webber and Monisha Rajesh are among those donating pledges for the Creatives4Sudan auction, co-organised by Louie Stowell 👇 #BookSky

I was delighted to write about the Alishan Forest Railway in #Taiwan for Lonely Planet's latest book. I've been on it the mountain many times to get to my aunt's tea farm. There are also fantastic pieces by @olismithtravel.bsky.social, @shafikmeghji.bsky.social , @monisharajesh.bsky.social.

Russians have killed Natalia Khodemchuk, the widow of Valeriy Khodemchuk—the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster. A Russian drone struck her apartment on the seventh floor of a building in Troieshchyna. She was hospitalized with burns covering 45% of her body.

So chuffed to see Moonlight Express in Waterstone best nature and travel books of 2025.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 18181999: "Write what you know" is limiting advice, which leads to limited writing. Instead, know what you're writing about. That means due diligence: good research, wide reading, specialist help and advice if you need it. Stay curious. Try new ideas. No limits.

P.S. @monisharajesh.bsky.social has written about all of this for The Guardian www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/... She spoke to Chris Engelsman, one of the founders of European Sleeper - and he claims the carriages for the Paris-Berlin will be from the 1990s. How? 🤨

EXCLUSIVE! from me in The Guardian today. Good news for night-train fans as @europeansleeper.eu announces it will run the Paris-Berlin route that ÖBB will be scrapping in December. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

No one will ever sum up Bari Weiss's career more succinctly than "what's the point of standards"

Strength training is political. We have a right-wing which has taken over physical fitness spaces, and hijacked “warrior culture”. We need a muscular progressivist visions. We need to be strong to build the world we want. Building my guns for the revolution. 💪🏾✊🏾 #Swoletariat #ResistanceTraining”

Went for an evening walk and to fetch a book delivery. The ferry from Tallinn was arriving in the moonlight. And I got some new #train #books by the wonderful @monisharajesh.bsky.social !

When the first railways were introduced in the early 19th century they were regarded as objects of wonder, but the 1940s western Europe's developed rail network played a significant role in the Holocaust. @monisharajesh.bsky.social recounts the story of one young boy who survived this persecution👇

‘They’d allowed me to enter realms of darkness, guiding me through and showing me beauty where my fears once lay.’ - @monisharajesh.bsky.social on the gift of night trains, in her new and lovely book, Moonlight Express. #travelwriting

10 #train travel tales you never knew: it's The Untold Railway Stories, a new compendium out today, edited by @monisharajesh.bsky.social. Today interviewed co-authors Jack Curtis (carbonjacked.com) & journalist @felicityspector.bsky.social (in Kyiv for @channel4news.bsky.social). Gripping stuff!

‘New York Times’ Announces New Columnist Will Contribute Nothing To Society 3 Times A Week

Hurrah! Lovely review of Moonlight Express by Christian Wolmar in @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/star...

Parisian pals I will be at @shakespeareandcompany.com on Thursday evening this week talking about Moonlight Express with the lovely Adam Biles. Free entry so please come along! www.shakespeareandcompany.com/events/monis...?

For the next seven days 💯 of my sales of Moonlight Express will be donated to Wesam Rajab, the mother of five-year-old Hind Rajab. Here’s why www.instagram.com/reel/DOTOfrr...

For the next seven days 💯 of my sales of Moonlight Express will be donated to Wesam Rajab, the mother of five-year-old Hind Rajab. Here’s why www.instagram.com/reel/DOTOfrr...

Thrilled to get a copy of @monisharajesh.bsky.social's new book 'Moonlight Express' - and even more so to be in conversation with her about it at Stanfords Bristol on 30 September!

You know you’re excited to read a book when you end up using the receipt as a bookmark. The dream… travel around the world on sleeper trains ✊🏻 #books #nowreading #booksky @monisharajesh.bsky.social

Full house yesterday for Moonlight Express Event! Big thank you to @monisharajesh.bsky.social and @danzep.bsky.social for an engaging discussion on travel, Moonlight Express and so much more! Thank you everyone for joining us.

Hurrah! Lovely review of Moonlight Express by Christian Wolmar in @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/star...