Human-rights lawyer and author Corban Addison, to speak Nov. 1st

Human-rights lawyer and author Corban Addison will speak about abolishing modern slavery at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1, in the Cape Florida Ballroom of the Student Union. 

The event, organized by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, is part of the 2012-2013 theme of “The Changing Face of Freedom in Today’s Turbulent Times.” The event is free and open to the public.

Addison’s novel, “A Walk Across the Sun,” is a fictional account that portrays the horrors and ills of modern-day slavery. To research the global trade in human beings, he journeyed to India, Europe and Washington, D.C. He spent time with experts and activists, and went undercover into the brothels of Mumbai to meet trafficking victims firsthand so that he might tell their story.

In his own words: “I am haunted by the truth of slavery, because I have seen it with my own eyes. I wrote A Walk Across the Sun to bring that truth alive for people like me, people who might prefer to believe that slavery is dead, or at least confined to dark alleys in the developing world.”

In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors and partners include The India Center at UCF, The India Group, Anil and Chitra Deshpande India Program Endowed Fund, UCF Human Trafficking Awareness Program, UCF Diplomacy Program, Orlando Area Committee on Foreign Relations, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, CliftonLarsonAllen, Restoring Human Wellness at UCF, UCF Women’s Studies Program, UCF International Services Center, UCF Political Science Department, UCF LIFE, UCF Book Festival 2013 in association with the Morgridge International Reading Center and the Global Connections Foundation.