(RNS) — Ruchira Gupta’s new young reader novel, “The Freedom Seeker,” tells the story of Simi, a 12-year-old girl from Chandigarh, India, whose family is forced to flee to the United States after her parents, a Hindu-Sikh father and Muslim mother, are attacked by intolerant neighbors.
But the author, an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and social justice activist, said the themes in Simi’s story, published Aug. 5, are anything but fictional. Her family represents thousands of marginalized people who endure treacherous journeys and the labyrinth of the U.S. immigration system in search of refuge, safety and a place to call home.
RNS spoke with Gupta, who is the founder-president of anti-sex trafficking organization Apne Aap Women Worldwide. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why did you leave journalism and become an activist?
I (was) walking in the hills of Nepal, and I came across these villages with missing girls. I followed the trail, and I found little girls locked up in cages in Mumbai’s brothels. I couldn’t believe that in my country, in my lifetime, something like that still existed. I decided to tell the story to break the silence, and in the process of making the documentary, “The Selling of Innocents,” I became really close to the women I was interviewing.
When I won the Emmy and I’m on stage in New York, and I’m looking at the br …