Suchen Christine Lim was born in the Malaysian state of Perak and came to Singapore at the age of 14. After graduation, she taught in a junior college and worked as a curriculum specialist in the Ministry of Education. In 2003, she resigned to write full time.

Suchen was awarded the inaugural Singapore Literature Prize for Fistful of Colours in 1992. Among other acclaimed works are her debut novel Rice Bowl (1984), A Bit of Earth (2001) and The River's Song (2014), which was one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2015. In 2012, she was awarded the Southeast Asia Write Award for her body of work.

Awarded a Fullbright grant, Suchen was a Fellow in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program and later became its Writer in Residence. She was also a Fellow in Creative Writing at the Nanyang Technological University.