About
Sakthika Vijay
Well before she started her first novel in 8th grade, Sakthika was always writing on anything she could find—napkins, magazines, her mom's work notepad. She believes in the power of a good story, and enjoys exploring themes of nostalgia and young romance. Graduated from the University of Minnesota, she is now based in Philadelphia.
Books/Stories
Jasmine Flowers and Pounds of Sugar
High school senior Jahnvi Patel has always hated her neighbor Everett James. He owned the restaurant that was the rival to her family’s restaurant; he was her one main enemy on the speech team; and he always seemed to treat her like an annoying sibling. It especially sucked since, sometimes, when he wears his best suit or flashes his best smile, her stomach flutters. And during those times, she wishes with her whole heart that things were different.
Everett is barely keeping things afloat. After his parents’ death and the decline of his grandmother’s health, he has too much on his plate with trying to graduate high school with honors, being a captain of the school speech team, and making sure his parents’ restaurant doesn’t go into debt which was the most important.
When an opportunity for a big catering event for a wedding appears for Everett, he immediately realizes that this could be the opportunity to turn his bleak restaurant around. He reluctantly turns to Jahnvi and her experience for help.
They grow closer.
But, they quickly realize love can be hard—especially when you’re young and the world seems to be rooting against you.
Outcast
Fifteen-year-old Mohana Prasad is as normal as an Indian girl can be. She is barely five-foot-three, and has a hopeless crush on the most popular guy in school. But there is something that sets her apart from the millions of other girls in the "background." She has a way with words.
After winning a contest, she becomes the head songwriter for Jamie West. The pop superstar used to be Mohana's best friend; but now that she has become famous, Jamie doesn't have time for Mohana, leaving her feeling like an outcast. That is until Mohana gets the opportunity of a lifetime.
Will Mohana triumph and show everyone who doubted her why she deserves a spot on the stage? Or will she fall and crumble to the pressure like hundreds have done before her?
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Manny's Last Day at Work
Published in UMN Literary Magazine The Tower
In a bleak near-future where reality is too cruel to face, Dreamico offers salvation: slip on a headset, and escape into the life you wish you had. For Manny, a weathered Dreamico mechanic, today is his last day on the job — and his final chance to earn enough to reunite with the family he hasn't seen in a decade.
As he journeys through the dream worlds of the rich, the desperate, and the forgotten, Manny witnesses the quiet tragedies of a society addicted to illusion. Tragedies that make him wonder what the costs of reality are.
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Set in a chillingly familiar future, Manny’s Last Day of Work is a dystopian reckoning — a searing critique of corporate greed, engineered escapism, and the human cost of a world that values profit over people.
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