Ask the Author: Mamta Jain Valderrama
Answered Questions (3)
Mamta Jain Valderrama
Juhi is a composite of real life people victimized by organ trafficking. I knew that I wanted the story to be told through the eyes of a child/pre-teen who grows up over the course of the book. Actually, in my first draft, I wrote Juhi's character as a boy. But I repeatedly got stuck because...well, I've never been a 12 year-old boy, and I have no idea how they think! Once I had the a-ha moment to switch the character to a girl, the writing just came out of me. Early on, when I closed my eyes and imagined Juhi, I kept seeing the face of my youngest cousin. Her name is not Juhi, but long after I published my book, I came to know that her name was supposed to be Juhi! But her parents, my aunt and uncle, changed it at the last minute!
Mamta Jain Valderrama
There were multiple poignant life moments that pulled at me to write A Girl In Traffick. The idea started in 2009 while I was researching medical tourism for a business plan that I wrote in graduate school. Later, I did healthcare strategy and operations for a large dialysis provider where I came face to face with patients who were desperate for life saving kidney transplants. I had accumulated all of this knowledge over half a decade, and I felt moved by the plight of organ trafficking victims. I was compelled to share their story.
Mamta Jain Valderrama
I get to focus on the issues I care about. It's a fun challenge to think about how to make organ trafficking or the child slave labor for chocolate relevant and interesting to the general public. I like to put myself in the shoes of the reader by thinking about what I like to read, and then I write that.
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