“I believe in really giving back,” she said. Manansala is also serving her second year as vice president of Sisters in Crime Chicago, a regional professional organization for female crime writers. Rader-Day encouraged her to get involved with local mystery writing societies that gave Manansala the support she needed. Manansala said she’s gotten help with writing and balancing the day-to-day with her new career from writing communities. She said the tone of “Homicide and Halo Halo” is a bit darker than her first book since it was written during the pandemic and talks about mental health. The author is working on balancing writing and touring - mostly virtual - with her job. Now, Manansala’s working part time as the Youth Services desk assistant at the Forest Park Public Library, but she’s considering becoming a full-time writer. And at the start of the pandemic, she was laid off from her job as an English language instructor at a Downtown school.īut that was the same day she got her contract for “Arsenic and Abodo.” Manansala didn’t see instant success - no publisher picked up the first book she finished. “I wanted to write something fun that I’ve always wanted to read and couldn’t find on the shelf. Her instructor, writer Lori Rader-Day, took a look at Manansala’s piece for the class and said, “I think you’re a mystery writer.” She decided on a whim to take a one-day mystery writing workshop. She thought she’d write kid literature or fantasy since she loves creating worlds.īut mysteries were Manansala’s and her mom’s favorite genre. Manansala didn’t expect to become a mystery writer. Her multi-generational household was a bit of a “waystation” for other folks coming over from the Philippines, she said. When Manansala was growing up in Hermosa, her family was one of the area’s few Filipino families. “Then you go about it, your world is essentially the same.”

“You expect when you make this momentous thing happen that your life is just gonna be magically changed, right?” she said. It’s “still a little hard to absorb” all the good press, awards and nominations, Manansala said.

Now she’s living her dream, releasing multiple books this year and having just agreed with her publisher to write an additional three stories. Manansala, who grew up in Hermosa, wanted to be an author ever since she was in elementary school. Credit: Provided “Arsenic and Adobo” has been nominated for several awards and got rave reviews.

Mia manansala author