Bio
Raj Tawney is an award-winning author, journalist and essayist whose work largely reflects his multiracial American upbringing. His debut memoir, Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience, earned critical acclaim and won numerous awards. He can’t cook but he loves assisting his talented wife in the kitchen and eating the results (and washing the dishes).
Experience
Raj is a born-and-raised New Yorker and proud multiracial American, of Indian, Puerto Rican, and Italian descent. His writing reflects his unique perspective and endless curiosity about this world. He has contributed nonfiction essays, journalism, and poetry to The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle and over 80 publications around the globe.
His debut memoir, Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience (Fordham University Press), was released in 2023 to positive reviews and has gone on to win four awards. His second book, All Mixed Up (Paw Prints Publishing, 2024), a middle-grade novel, was a NYPL Best Book for Kids pick and a Día Reading List pick, among other accolades. He has given lectures and talks at schools, universities, libraries and conferences throughout the country.
Raj and his wife Michelle have a little house near the Everglades, in between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, that they share with their rescue dogs and parrots. He’s working on an essay collection scheduled to be released in fall 2027.
Education
Raj attended Farmingdale State College on Long Island, New York, but wasn’t a great student, as he dropped out a few times to pursue a career as a musician (read Colorful Palate for more details) before finally graduating. However, he’s proud of the time he spent there and he’s pretty sure the school has no idea about all of his accomplishments. Once, they did share a popular essay he’d written because they were mentioned but a few years later, when he needed his transcripts, they made him pay a past-due parking ticket from a decade earlier. Go figure.
Raj's Articles and Photo Galleries
Claudette Zepeda Talks Her New Cookbook, Cultural Identity and Growing Up a 'Border Kid' Jun 2, 2026
"Cooking the Borderlands" details Claudette Zepeda's unique upbringing straddling two different cultural worlds, crossing back and …
