After months of reading and interviews, I traveled to India and Europe. I went to court with lawyers, visited safe houses and met girls rescued from the sex trade; I interviewed field agents about their work investigating pimps and brothel owners; and I went undercover into the brothels of Mumbai to meet trafficking victims firsthand. Without this, I could never have written an authentic story.

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Addison by courtesy of the author

My guest today is Corban Addison, author of A Walk Across the Sun [SilverOak Books, 2012].  Welcome to OpEdNews, Corban.  

JB: I understand that you've been writing for a long time but this is your first novel.  Tell us where the idea for this book came from, please.

CA: In 2008, I was practicing law and writing on the side, searching for a story with wings. I'd written three novels that were rejected by publishers in New York and went into a drawer to collect dust. My wife and I happened across a film called Trade about international sex trafficking. It was very hard hitting and painful to watch, but it opened our eyes to the reality that child trafficking is not only a global phenomenon, it is a local phenomenon, happening in cities and neighborhoods in the U.S. The film initiated a conversation in our household, and out of that conversation came the idea for A Walk Across the Sun. My wife was the one who first conceived of the story. She came to me and strongly suggested that I set aside the other projects I was working on (the ones that weren't going anywhere) and write a novel that would humanize and personalize the issue of modern-day slavery for readers around the world. I thought it was a great idea and ran with it.

JB: It was a great idea! A Walk Across the Sun also covers a lot of territory and is very complex. Did you find it daunting to handle the various threads of the story?

CA: Writing a novel, particularly one with many layers, is a bit like working a multi-dimensional puzzle, except that there isn't only one way to fit the pieces together. There are many. As a storyteller, I'm looking for the best way to bring the many elements of the story to a resolution. Thankfully, I like puzzles. The hardest part of writing A Walk Across the Sun was getting India right. As an attorney, I found it relatively straightforward to understand the dynamics of international human trafficking. But I had virtually no history with India before I started the research. The most gratifying reviews I've gotten since the book launched have come from Indians who said they recognized themselves in the story and praised the authenticity of the narrative.

JB: That is gratifying! Tell us how you did your research. It probably wasn't only books and internet;  I'm imagining it involved some travel, no?

CA: My objective in writing the story was to capture the grim realities of modern-day slavery in a narrative at once enlightening and hopeful. To accomplish this, I had to become something of a subject-matter expert on the slavery issue, and I had to get the foreign context right. My research was immersive. I read everything I could get my hands on about trafficking and India; I spent time with Indians and experts in government in the U.S.; I made contacts with lawyers, activists and social workers in the field; and I planned a trip that would allow me to live as much of the story as I could before I wrote a word. After months of reading and interviews, I traveled to India and Europe and did on-the-ground research. I went to court with the lawyers; I visited safe houses and met girls who had been rescued from the sex trade; I interviewed field agents about their work investigating pimps and brothel owners; and I went undercover into the brothels of Mumbai to meet trafficking victims firsthand. Without this experience, I could never have written an authentic story.

JB: What exactly did your "on-the-ground research" add to your understanding?  And while you were doing it, were you ever afraid for your safety?

CA: There is a maxim among authors: Write what you know. I research and travel so I can write what I know. My on-the-ground experience is the lynchpin of my understanding and the key to my creative process. In my view, you can't write about a place without having walked its streets, spent time with its people, eaten its food, smelled its aromas (and stenches), and developed a sense for its soul. You can't write a compelling story about an issue like human trafficking if you haven't spent time with the people who know the issue best--advocates, activists, police officers, investigators, and (critically) survivors. 

It may seem strange since I'm a novelist, but the last thing I wanted people to accuse me of is inventing a fictional world. I wanted to tell a story that is searingly real without being historically true. To do that I had to live the story first, at least as much of it as I could without taking undue risk. On that score, I definitely got outside my comfort zone, but I didn't put myself in great danger. The risks I take in my research are calculated to add value to the story I'm writing. I'm not an investigative journalist, though it sometimes looks that way. As the product is different, so is the process.

book cover by courtesy of the author

JB: How did you juggle all the extended travel with your legal practice, not to mention your family life?

CA: I had to take a six-week unpaid sabbatical from my legal practice to do the on-the-ground research. Thankfully, the partners at my old law firm were generous and offered me the freedom to travel. A lot of firms would have said no. It was definitely an intense experience working on the book on top of handling legal cases, but my wife and I found a way forward that was sustainable for us, at least in the short term. I could not have done it without her strong support and her willingness to care for our baby son while I was away.

JB: I bet that was tough on everyone. So nice to have your wife behind you in such a big way. Speaking of being away,  I understand that you just got back from an extended stay abroad. Can you talk about that? Was this related to your book? To a new project? Tell us what you can.

CA: I just returned from a seven-week trip that took me to eleven countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The first five weeks were research for a new book I'm working on (the details of which I'm keeping close to the vest at this point). After that, I did a publicity tour of the UK and South Africa to support the launch of my second novel, The Garden of Burning Sand, in those countries. Garden continues some of the themes I developed in A Walk Across the Sun in that it addresses violence against women and girls in the context of Southern Africa and the United States. It tells the story of a Zambian girl with Down Syndrome who is raped on the streets of Lusaka and the non-profit team of lawyers and social workers--including Zoe Fleming, the daughter of a U.S. Senator and presidential candidate--who come to her aid. It will be released in the U.S. on May 6, 2014 by Quercus/Random House, a month after the launch of the trade paperback edition of A Walk Across the Sun .

JB: Wow! You sure have a lot going on. And Garden definitely sounds like something I'll look forward to reading. John Grisham wrote a blurb for A Walk Across the Sun . While it's not unusual for authors to write a blurb, Grisham has made a point of never doing one - until yours. How did you pull off this coup?

CA: John was very generous with his support. A mutual friend introduced us. He had a preexisting interest in the subject of human trafficking and was intrigued by my project. He offered to take a look at the manuscript after I finished it. Of course, I hoped that he would like it, but the whole thing was a bit nerve-wracking. I'll never forget the email I got from him after he read it. It was a pivotal moment in my quest to get published. The glowing endorsement he offered me elevated my manuscript above the slush pile with agents and editors. It didn't guarantee a book deal, but it gave me credibility in the industry and helped people take me seriously. And it's been wonderful with readers. People love John's books. Our writing styles are a bit different, but we share a passion for justice and for stories well told.

Grisham blurb by courtesy of the author

JB: And you're both very good at what you do.  Your website is a tool that carries your passion about the subject of trafficking forward. What can readers expect to find if they go there?

CA: I built my website both to be a portal for my readers to learn more about the story behind A Walk Across the Sun and to offer people ideas about how they can engage in the fight against human trafficking. Fiction is an immensely powerful medium and can inspire conscientious action. But it has its limits. On my website, under the "Learn More" tab, I offer people additional resources to expand their knowledge of human trafficking. Also, under the "How to Help" tab, I point people to an array of non-profit organizations doing great work in the field. I hope readers interested in advancing in the cause of modern abolitionism will join me and my wife in supporting the many heroes around the world who have dedicated their lives to the work of justice and rescue.

JB: Your book was an eye-opener and I highly recommend it. Thank you so much for talking with me, Corban. It was a pleasure.

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Thanks to Laurie Rosen for suggesting this book.

Addison's website

Some other Brunwasser pieces on trafficking and prostitution: 

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.