Fear in writing, fear in life (guest post by Kim Purcell)
Approximately 2.5 million people are forced into labor each year.
People often ask me what made me write a novel about human trafficking since it’s such a bleak topic. Many influences came at around the same time to point me in the direction of writing this book – a news article, my English as a Second Language students, a housekeeper who was being mistreated, and my cousin living in Moldova, a poor country in the former Soviet Union with a terrible trafficking problem. I hate to see people being mistreated and I wanted to do something about it. However, I was also writing about fear, something every one of us has to overcome, something I’ve worked on overcoming as a person and as a writer.
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| Human Trafficking Infographic from http://stopthetraffik.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/exciting-new-human-trafficking-infographic/ |
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| Human Trafficking Infographic by Andrew Fung |
While I was writing this book, I had to face the fear that I might never be published and people would look at me with pity and think, well, she wasn’t good enough, so sad for her. I’d written two unpublished novels before this one and people had stopped asking me about my writing. I feared I’d never be able to wave that first novel in the air and shout: “I did it.” I was terrified that I’d be that person with a dream who didn’t make it.
I grew up in a small town in Canada. It wasn’t right for me, so I left. I went to the University in British Columbia, did a bunch of traveling, got married and moved to LA. I wrote two “practice” novels before TRAFFICKED. I had two kids. We all moved to New York. I love the growl, the sassy walk, the honesty of New York City. It’s inspirational. In my spare time, I’m a swimmer and a runner and a yogi. I dance in elevators and change rooms. I laugh a lot and sometimes I yell. (More information here)Filed under: Human Trafficking, Kim Purcell, Teen Issues, Trafficked
About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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Human trafficking is such an important issue, and this is one of the few books I've seen that tackle this topic. I haven't read it yet, but it's been on my list since I first heard of it. From other interviews and guest posts I've read it sounds like the author really did her research, and knows her stuff, which I absolutely appreciate. I also think it's great that the story takes place in the U.S. Often times people think human trafficking is something that happens “over there” or in less developed nations – not in Canada or the U.S – our own backyards. But the sad truth is that it does! And we NEED to be talking about this!
Compelling post.