Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys ( lt, Rūta Šepetys; born November 19, 1967) is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction. As an author, she is a ''New York Times'' and international bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal.

She is a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow and the first American writer of young adult literature to speak at the European Parliament and NATO. Her work has been published in over sixty countries and forty languages and is currently in development for film and television.

Biography

Born in Michigan, Sepetys is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. She earned a B.S. in International Finance from Hillsdale College. While overseas, she studied at the Centre d’études Européennes in Toulon, France, and at the ICN Graduate Business School in Nancy, France.

Following graduation, she moved to Los Angeles. In 1994, she launched Sepetys Entertainment Group, Inc., an entertainment management firm

In 2002, Sepetys was featured in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's "Women in Rock" special issue as a woman driven to make a difference. she is on the Board of Advisors for the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University and is also a director of the Make a Noise Foundation, a national non-profit that raises money for music education.

Sepetys published her first novel in 2011 and currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. She has been described as a "seeker of lost stories" who hopes to give voice to those who weren't able to tell their story.Alexandra Alter
"An Unlikely Story for Teens"
''The Wall Street Journal''; accessed January 14, 2018.

Fiction

'' Between Shades of Gray''

Her first novel, ''Between Shades of Gray'', about a teenage girl deported from her native Lithuania to Siberian Gulag labor camps after the Soviet occupation in 1941, was critically acclaimed and translated into over 30 languages.

The book is considered a ''roman à clef'', with fictional characters wrapped around actual events and experiences. Ruta states that the novel represents the "extreme suffering and tremendous hope" displayed by the people of the Baltics.

In March 2013, Ruta became the first American author of young adult literature to give a presentation at European Parliament. Her discussion with MEPs in Brussels centered on the novel, the history of totalitarianism in the Baltics, and the importance of historical fiction. The novel is developed as a film, ''Ashes in the Snow.''

Sepetys is a writer of historical fiction. Although ''Between Shades of Gray'' was initially written for children and young adults, the book has been widely read by many worldwide and is considered a book for all ages.

'' Out of the Easy''

''Out of the Easy'' is Sepetys' second published novel. It was released on February 12, 2013 and features Josie Moraine, a young woman in the 1950s French Quarter of New Orleans