A Conversation With Indie Author Mia Caven

At just 22 years old, London-based Greek writer Mia Caven has already made her mark. Her debut novel, published by herself, Be a Smart Girl, came into being this year, centres on a young woman navigating new countries, tangled relationships, and the pull of her roots. We sit and talk with her about what being a woman author is like, and how most times, words intertwine with politics.

For Mia, fiction is never hollow. “People think fiction doesn’t have anything of you in it since it’s not real,” she points out, “but that’s not true. It’s your character, your inside world.” This belief pulses through her novel, where intimate character details and emotional truth bring the narrative to life.

Set against the political backdrop of the 1970s, Be a Smart Girl examines not just shifting ideologies but the tender complexity of being a woman across time and place. “It’s about what it’s like to be a woman, the experiences with men, and the expectations placed on us by society and government,” Mia reflects. “It’s political, but it’s also deeply romantic.” The balance of personal longing and systemic constraint gives the story its resonance—and its heart.

That resonance only deepened in the wake of contemporary events. “When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2020, it felt surreal. I was 16, writing about this law from the 70s, and now in present time, I’m watching it be overturned.” What began as historical fiction unexpectedly echoed in our present, giving Mia’s writing a new urgency.

Even from her earliest memories, storytelling was a calling: “Before the days of laptops, I would write full-length books in notepads and notebooks. It was always meant to be.” Those handwritten drafts—poured out on paper—laid the foundation for her vivid, emotionally authentic prose.

In Be a Smart Girl, Mia Caven weaves together heritage, heartbreak, and the fight for selfhood into a narrative that’s both specific in its context and timeless in its reach. And in doing so, she proves herself a writer whose inside world is powerful enough to shape ours.