Amol Rajan

Amol Rajan (born 4 July 1983) is the editor of The Independent newspaper. Rajan's appointment to the post was announced on 17 June 2013.^[1]

Rajan was born in Calcutta, India; he was three when his family moved to England,^[1] and he was raised in Tooting, south London.^[2] He was state school educated^[3] at Graveney School, then a comprehensive,^[1] and read English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he contributed to Varsity. He was Editor of the student newspaper for a term in 2005.^[4] At the age of 18, Rajan worked in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for one year during his gap year. ^[5]

Rajan was the secondary presenter on The Wright Stuff, the daytime talk show on the Five network,^[6] during its 2006-7 season. He was also a researcher on the programme.

He joined the The Independent newspaper in August 2007 where he has been a news reporter, sports correspondent, columnist, comment editor^[7] and editor of Independent Voices.^[8] He has also written a Monday column for the London Evening Standard, restaurant criticism for The Independent on Sunday^[8] and has contributed to The Salisbury Review. The latter publication, according to Rajan, "still publishes writing on politics, history and culture that is among the finest produced in English today. It is frequently offensive and I cannot say I often agree with its editorial position, but that is all the more reason to read it."^[9]

Rajan became the first non-white editor of a national newspaper when his Independent appointment was announced,^[1][3] although that claim has also been made on behalf of Rachel Beer.^[10] His predecessor as editor of the Independent, Chris Blackhurst, became Group Content Director.^[11]

His first book, Twirlymen, the Unlikely History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers, a history of spin-bowlers in cricket, was published by Random House in 2011.^[12]

Rajan is a keen follower of cricket^[13] and plays for the Authors XI cricket team.^[14]

References