Ruchira Gupta - The Freedom Seeker!

We are so honored to welcome author, professor, and founder of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, Ruchira Gupta to our Little Shop! Join us for a super special evening discussing Ruchira's new book, The Freedom Seeker, a daring story of resilliance and hope that is perfect for fans of Alan Gratz! It's sure to be a wonderful night, so be sure to save your spot!

Tickets:

Admission + Book: $18.99 this ticket admits one to our event and includes a copy of The Freedom Seeker to be picked up and signed at our event

Admission: $0 this free ticket admits one to our event, but does not include a book

Please note that you must purchase a copy of The Freedom Seeker from Little Shop in order to enter the signing line. Eventbrite, online, and in person purchases all count!

About the Book:

Twelve-year-old Simi Singh's life in Northern India is filled with love, family traditions, and ordinary worries about hockey competitions, school exams, and avoiding the snide remarks of her class nemesis. But when a single rock carrying a note crash through their window during their Id celebration, Simi’s life will shatter.

Her Sikh father and Muslim mother’s interfaith marriage is becoming a target of violent vigilantes. Faced with rising threats, they must make an impossible choice: stay and risk their lives, or flee their homeland. Simi’s father is the first of them to make the journey to the U.S., but when their petition to be reunited in America is denied, Simi and her mother are left with no choice but to attempt a perilous crossing through the Arizona desert with the help of a smuggler.

Throughout her nail-biting journey towards safety and belonging, Simi will face unthinkable danger— and when Simi and her mother are separated during the crossing, each led to believe the other is dead, she refuses to accept this fate. Alone in an unfamiliar and unforgiving land, she must summon all her courage and resourcefulness to survive, find her mother, and reunite her shattered family.

About the Author:

Ruchira Gupta is a writer, feminist campaigner, professor at New York University and founder of the anti-sex-trafficking organization, Apne Aap Women Worldwide. She won the Clinton Global Citizen award in 2009, the Sera Bangali Award in 2012 and an Emmy for outstanding investigative journalism in 1996. She has helped more than twenty thousand girls and women in India exit prostitution systems. She has also edited As If Women Matter, an anthology of Gloria Steinem’s essays, and written manuals on human trafficking for the UN Office for Drugs and Crime. Ruchira divides her time between Delhi and New York. I Kick and I Fly is her debut novel.

Event Venue

Little Shop of Stories, 133 East Court Square, Decatur, United States