Success Story: Suja Sukumar

My journey into a career in writing happened by accident. I was in my early forties, a full-time physician and mom with two young children, when my sister suggested I enter a short story competition. I didn’t get in but that attempt at writing got me hooked.

My goal was to traditionally publish while providing South Asian diaspora representation. I started with a middle grade mystery, which I ended up shelving after multiple agent rejections. To be honest, this was my fault since I hadn’t done the massive editing and research required before querying.

With my next story, a YA thriller, I joined online critique groups, Critique Circle and Agent Query being examples. I also found beta readers through (then) Twitter and through writing organizations. I researched agents using sites like Manuscript Wish List, specifically looking for ones who accepted my genre and were looking for BIPOC stories. I then sent out queries but ended up with rejections again.

By now, I was left wondering if I should just give up. I barely had any time to write between family and a job that often ran into weekends and nights. But I found I couldn’t stop. Writing gave me a sense of joy and a purpose. I decided to try querying again, this time with a YA fantasy. Unfortunately, this manuscript ended up getting shelved as well.

In 2015, I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. The months following passed in a blur of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. But this also allowed me a new perspective on life, to live each day and continue to go after my dreams.

So, I thought I’d give it one more shot by writing a YA thriller. I went through all the steps of editing, critiquing, beta readers, and researching agents. I had also been applying for mentoring contests during this time and was picked by the wonderful Dana Mele (People Like Us, Summer’s Edge, and the upcoming The Beast You Let In)) as mentee in the Author Mentor Match contest.

Dana helped me polish the story. A few months later, I pitched it in #DVPit on Twitter. One of the agent requests turned into an offer and In December 2018, I signed with my agent.

After months of editing, we began sending submissions to publishers in late 2019. But Covid hit by the second round and so did the rejections. By 2021, I had moved onto another manuscript when we received an email from an editor at Soho Teen; she had previously passed but wanted another look. I signed the contract in Jan 2022 and the YA thriller When Mimi Went Missing was released in Nov 2024. In Sept 2025, it won the Anthony Award for Best YA/Children’s novel.

This is my long and convoluted path to traditional publication, and I thank you for reading. My advice to fellow writers would be to stay involved within the writing community. Their encouragement and words of cheer kept me going. I wish good luck to everyone on this journey.  Keep writing all those wonderful stories!

Suja Sukumar (she/her) is an award-winning author of diverse suspense novels. Her debut YA thriller When Mimi Went Missing won the 2025 Anthony Award for Best YA/Children’s novel and the 2025 Pencraft Award for Best YA General genre. She is a member of SCBWI, Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Apart from being an author, she is also a primary care physician in suburban Detroit, where she lives with her family.

Book Birthday Blog with Suja Sukumar

 

Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog!

Where we celebrate new books from Michigan's authors, illustrators and translators.

 

Congratulations to  Suja Sukumar on the release of When Mimi Went Missing

 

Please share a little about this book's journey. How did you come up with the idea?

I started writing this book about ten years ago, stealing time between my hectic work schedule and my family. I grew up on Agatha Christie and therefore it was inevitable that I’d gravitate toward mysteries and thrillers. The fast-paced twisty plots of young adult thrillers and the complex relationships and emotions portrayed in them inspired me to write a YA thriller. 

I wanted a story based in Michigan where I live and a protagonist from the South Asian diaspora because of the dearth of YA thrillers featuring main characters of South Asian ethnicity. Small towns hide the biggest secrets and therefore I settled for a small-town mystery as the perfect setting for my story. I also wanted a complex character, an underdog who beat the odds. 

And thus, I ended up with Tanvi, a sixteen-year-old orphan who lives with her aunt and cousin after her parents died in a murder-suicide when she was eight. She and her cousin share a deep sisterly bond but that is broken when her cousin joins the popular clique led by Tanvi’s bully. This betrayal triggers the trauma Tanvi had experienced when her parents died and she embarks on the subsequent crescendo of events ending in the final climax.

What inspires you to write?

Writing instills a sense of joy and peace in me. Writing a story transports me to a world where I can create characters at will and watch them live and breathe and act. My characters, once I’ve created them, often tend to take the story over and they may take the plot on a different tangent than what I’d originally planned. Therefore, I allow myself to be surprised and for me that’s a large part of the joy of fiction writing. 

What is something you hope your readers will take away from your book?

I wanted to portray my Brown, Indian American character as complex, flawed and insecure, someone who is traumatized by childhood trauma, deals with anxiety and PTSD and faces subsequent bullying in school. But she’s also someone who learns to trust herself and believe in her own self-worth, which in turn gives her the strength to fight for herself and her loved ones.

By writing this book, I wanted to show that intersectional identities exist within groups marginalized by race / ethnicity, and that we aren’t one cookie cutter monolith. Writing characters with intersectional identities not only helps readers find themselves represented but also creates empathy across the barriers of race and ethnicity.

What are your marketing plans for the book and where can we find it?

It is being marketed by my publisher Soho Press and by PRH. It’s available to preorder at several sites, including Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, etc

Please visit Penguin Random House at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726250/when-mimi-went-missing-by-suja-sukumar/

My website https://www.sujasukumar.com/

Please also consider ordering through your favorite indie bookstore and request at your libraries.

What's next for you?

My current WIP is a young adult horror based on Indian folklore. Here, an eighteen-year-old Indian American girl intent on proving her mom’s innocence in a murder that happened decades ago in India comes face-to-face with the victim who’s haunting her ancestral home and is bent on vengeance.  I’m editing it as we speak and hoping to get it out to my agent by the end of the year.

More about the book . . .

The splintered relationship between two Indian American cousins is at the center of this dark, twisty YA mystery—perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, Karen McManus, and Angeline Boulley.



Shy, nerdy Tanvi has always thought of her perfect cousin Mimi as her sister. Not only did Mimi’s family raise Tanvi after the tragic death of her parents, fierce Mimi has always protected Tanvi at school. At least until Mimi fell under the spell of their flawless, rich classmate, Beth . . . Tanvi’s biggest bully.



Fearing another terrible year, Tanvi decides to take a desperate, preemptive strike—and captures an incriminating photo of Mimi and Beth at a party. When Tanvi wakes up the next day with a bump on her head, scratches on her leg, and no memory of what caused her injuries, Mimi is gone.



When the investigation for the missing girl takes a dark turn, Tanvi begins to fill the gaps in her memory, hoping to bring her cousin home alive. She questions Mimi’s friends and enemies—including Mimi’s shady boyfriend, who refuses to answer her questions, and Beth, who catalyzed the split between the once-close cousins. Meanwhile, the cops announce that they are now hunting a murderer—are they hunting Tanvi?



To preserve her family and find the truth, Tanvi must revisit the worst night of her life and the darkest parts of her past to discover if she’s capable of murder—and the truth of what happened to Mimi.

Publisher: Soho Press

More about the author . . .

Suja Sukumar loves hanging out in coffee shops and Indian restaurants, drawing inspiration from naan and malai kofta, masala chai and lassi. She is a member of SCBWI, Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, and is a senior staff physician in a major health system in suburban Detroit, where she lives with her family and an elderly cat. When Mimi Went Missing is her debut novel. 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sujawrites/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sujasukumarwriter

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iamsujas?lang=en