Available at:

What would you do today,
if you had to fight for your life
tomorrow?

Fourteen-year-old Heera knows she is living on borrowed time when she is expelled from school. There is no food at home and her father wants to sell her into the sex trade. She has no means to fight back until a woman’s rights advocate enrolls her in her Kung Fu class. Through it, Heera learns that her body isn’t an object to be preyed upon, but a vessel to free herself.

Author Ruchira Gupta discusses I Kick and I Fly

Read an excerpt from the book

“

In I Kick and I Fly Ruchira Gupta has given readers
an irresistible story, and one that could save lives.

Gloria SteinemOutrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions
“

Any work from Ruchira Gupta is sure to further the cause of
liberating women, and in this novel, it is the freedom of girls.

Alice WalkerThe Color Purple
“

Having been to the red-light district I Kick and I Fly so
searingly captures, I can testify that this book is essential
reading for anyone wanting to help girls end sex-trafficking.

Ashley JuddAll that Is Bitter and Sweet
“

Gupta renders Heera’s perseverance amid grueling circumstances
via straightforward prose and imbues this searing tale with an
ominous ambiance that complements its dark themes.

Publisher’s Weekly
“

Ruchira Gupta gives readers an empathetic and unflinching
glimpse into a world little known to outsiders.

Natalie C. AndersonCity of Saints and Thieves
“

Gupta’s I Kick and I Fly is simply magnificent. A beautifully tender
and sensitive exploration of one girl’s fight to reclaim her body in
a world where the sex trade is seen as inescapable.

Ayaan MohamudYou Think You Know Me
“

Ruchira Gupta has crafted a page-turner of a read,
stepped in place and full of indelible characters, managing
to be at once propulsive and enlightening, infuriating and inspiring.

Gayle FormanIf I Stay
“

This incredible book manages to offer an uplifting and hopeful
story without downplaying the incredibly harsh realities its characters,
and the people who inspired them, face. Must-read.

Emily AutenreichA Seat at the Table Books
“

Ruchira’s I Kick and I Fly is a stark, beautiful, impossibly heartbreaking
look at the lives of girls on whom prostitution and trafficking is made
into a way of life. This book is a call to action…

Staceyann ChinThe Other Side of Paradise
“

This book had me crying AND cheering on the subway…
A powerful story about courage, community, and kicking ass.
Highly recommended!

Rebecca ShoafBoogie Down Books

I KICK AND I FLY – ON SALE EVERYWHERE – 

I KICK AND I FLY – ON SALE EVERYWHERE – 

I KICK AND I FLY – ON SALE EVERYWHERE – 

I KICK AND I FLY – ON SALE EVERYWHERE – 

I KICK AND I FLY – ON SALE EVERYWHERE – 

Community

Coming soon…

Resources

Virtual-learning modules,
videos, a discussion guide
and other tools

Events

See Ruchira Gupta’s
speaking schedule and
stay updated on the book

Take Action

Make a positive impact
with just a few clicks

Meet the Author

Ruchira Gupta is an Emmy winning journalist and founder of the anti sex trafficking NGO, Apne Aap that helps women and girls exit systems of prostitution. I Kick and I Fly is her debut fiction novel.

She has been given the French Ordre National du Mérite, Clinton Global Citizen Award, and the UN NGO CSW Woman of Distinction among other honors for her contribution to the establishment of the UN Trafficking Fund for Survivors, the passage of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act and her grassroots activism with Apne Aap. She holds a Doctor of Humane Letters from Smith College. Ruchira has worked for the United Nations in Nepal, Thailand, Kosovo, Iran, and USA. She teaches occasionally as a visiting professor at New York University.

“

I believe in a world in which no human being is bought or sold

— Ruchira Gupta

Author’s Note

Click to discover why Ruchira
Gupta wrote I Kick and I Fly

Sponsor a girl like Heera

Founded by author Ruchira Gupta, Apne Aap International empowers women and girls from marginalized communities and at risk of intergenerational prostitution. Focus is on keeping girls enrolled in school, building their self-confidence, and providing education about their rights – ultimately bringing them out of prostitution or the risk of being prostituted.

Find out how you can make a difference

Media Activities

of the author and about the book

See the author’s latest multimedia
activity and social media feeds

.

Video Archive

of Ruchira Gupta’s work

Explore these videos from
author Ruchira Gupta,
including her Emmy-award
winning documentary
‘The Selling of Innocents‘

.

Available at: