DEBUT JOURNEYS Kristina Rahim
Where are you now and where did you write your book?
I’m based in West London, and I wrote my book at a desk set up in our spare room, facing a sage green coloured wall. (Green is meant to be calming, but at times, when editing this book, I didn’t feel very calm!)
What’s it all about? (Your book, that is!)
The Doughnut Club is about family, friendship and being true to yourself.
12-year-old donor-conceived Quinn loves her family, even though she often feels like the odd one out. Not only because she’s the only one with red hair and green eyes, but because she would rather be quietly drawing than surfing, rock-climbing, or whatever activity her mums and brother Olly like to do on holiday.
But when Quinn’s mums tell her and Olly that they have sixteen donor siblings, she’s SO excited! Maybe one of them will be more like her. As her summer holiday by the sea turns into a super-secret quest to find out more, Quinn begins to fear the worst: could one of her donor siblings be the dreaded Monika, her sworn enemy?
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| Cover of The Doughnut Club, by Kristina Rahim |
Tell us about your route to publication.
Like a few people, I started toying with the idea of writing during lockdown. Once I started playing with story ideas, I realised I really enjoyed it. I signed up to online courses and read writing craft books. I had zero knowledge of the publishing world and merrily sent off my manuscripts to literary agents and writing competitions, naively assuming they were all wonderful and ready for publication! Even though this led to many rejections, I got enough positive feedback along the way to encourage me to keep going.
Then, at the end of 2022, I wrote a piece about the moment an 18-year-old donor-conceived girl meets her sperm donor for a short story competition. My wife and I have two daughters who were conceived with the help of a sperm donor, so it’s a topic close to my heart.
This was the first time I had written anything about a donor child. During an agent 121 to discuss another middle grade novel I had written, I met with the fantastic Becky Bagnell. She requested to read the full manuscript and when I sent it, I sent her my donor short story too. When she replied, it was a ‘nearly, but not quite’ response to my middle grade novel, but she absolutely loved my short story. We had a zoom call to discuss, and she encouraged me to explore more ideas around donor conception. It was fantastic advice, and I will always be grateful to Becky for this.
I completed my draft of The Doughnut Club by early 2023 and submitted it to a writing competition and pitching contest. I was blown away by the amount of interest it received. This was the story that meant the most to me, which may have been why it was feeling like it could be ‘the one’.
In the end, I gained representation with the fabulous Silvia Molteni after being chosen as the winner of the PFD Queer Prize. We worked on some further edits before going on submission to publishers, which led to my 3-book deal with the wonderful Nosy Crow.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I’m either looking after two of my old building projects that I still manage, or I am looking after/providing a taxi service to our two daughters! In my free time, I love to exercise, watch movies, work my way through my TBR pile and listen to 90s music loudly in my car.
What was the biggest bump in the road when it came to getting your book out into the world and how did you overcome it?
There was one moment, when I thought all major edits were completed, that I needed to try and cut 6,000 words from the story for various reasons.
I had to take quite a deep breath before attacking this challenge, but even though this process was HARD, it taught me so much about self-editing and I know the story is much tighter and stronger because of it.
Silvia, my agent, gave me a great tip when I was faced with this challenge. She said to ‘do the maths’. Looking at it as cutting 6,000 words seemed terrifying, but dividing that between the number of chapters and cutting those words per chapter, instead, felt less daunting. And it worked!
Any tips for budding writers hoping to follow in your footsteps?
Keep going, because the more you write the more you learn!
And also, ‘find your tribe’. Being part of a supportive writing community who 100% understand what you’re going through has been an essential part of my writing journey so far.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on Book 2 with my editor. The most I can share is that it’s a dual narrative, which I’ve never tried before, but hopefully it’s going to work!
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Kristina Rahim is a writer and lives in London with her wife and two daughters. Before writing, Kristina worked in the property industry, building homes out of disused garages and scraps of land. She now spends her days building children’s novels. Her debut middle grade novel, The Doughnut Club, was named as the winner of the PFD Queer Fiction Prize 2023 and was published on 8th May 2025 by Nosy Crow.
Follow her on Instagram, Bluesky, or at her website: www.kristinarahim.com
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