Ruta Sepetys is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction. As an author, she is a #1 New York Times and international bestseller., and winner of the Carnegie Medal.

Where is Ruta Sepetys dad from?

Ruta's father, Jurgis Sepetys, was forced to flee Lithuania when he was just four years old; the Soviet Army had occupied the country, and it became too dangerous to stay. His family traveled through Poland and stayed in refugee camps in Austria and Germany.

When did Ruta Sepetys start writing?

Her first novel, Between Shades of Gray, about the Genocide of Baltic people after the Soviet occupation in 1941, was critically acclaimed and translated into over 30 different languages.

Is Ruta Sepetys married?

In 2004 Sepetys met her future husband, Michael Smith, outside Bongo Java, across from the Belmont University campus where she was teaching a music business class. They married in 2006. While on a date, Smith asked his future wife, much like Child had 20 years earlier, what she really wanted to do with her life.

What inspired Ruta Sepetys?

Q: What inspired you to write “Between Shades of Gray?” A: During a trip to Lithuania I visited my father's cousin and learned that after my father fled from Lithuania, some of our extended family members were deported to Siberia. I was shocked, but learned that my family's history was not unique.

Ruta Sepetys // Author Introduction

Why did Ruta Sepetys write Between Shades of Gray?

In an interview with ThirstforFiction, Ruta Sepetys said that the reason she intended Between Shades of Gray to be a young adult novel was because she met many survivors in Lithuania who were themselves, teenagers, during the deportations and had a greater will to live than many of their adult counterparts at the time.

Is Ruta Sepetys coming out with a new book?

Ruta Sepetys's New Novel Draws on the True Story of Romanian Teens Working in a Spy Network. The upcoming historical thriller, I Must Betray You, will be released in February 2022. ... In writing the book, Sepetys drew from the testimonies of actual witnesses.

Who wrote between shades of gray?

About the Author

Ruta Sepetys () is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction published in over sixty countries and forty languages.

Is there a Salt to the Sea movie?

Universal Pictures is developing a movie based on Ruta Sepetys' historical novel “Salt to the Sea,” and set up the project with “Transformers” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

How do you pronounce Ruta Sepetys?

When you talk about our current, multiple award-winning author Ruta Sepetys—and oh you will! —you'll want to pronounce her name correctly: Roota Suh-pettys.

Who is Jonas sepetys?

Reviewing this material, certain details in the letters made it clear that this Jonas Sepetys is the grandfather of Ruta Sepetys, the author of the best-seller Between Shades of Gray. In trying to discover the history of her grandfather, Ruta found the inspiration for her book.

Is Between Shades of Gray a true story?

Based on the true stories of Baltic citizens, Between Shades of Gray is a detailed, riveting, and thought-provoking story of the terrors that the Baltic people faced during WWII under Stalin. ... Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in Stalin's so-called “ethnic cleanse” of the Baltic region.

What is the plot of Between Shades of Gray?

Parents need to know that Between Shades of Gray is a story of horrific cruelty and violence for mature tweens and up. It's the story of 15-year-old Lina, her younger brother, and their mother, whom the Soviets deport from their Lithuanian home to a Siberian labor camp in 1941.

How old is Jonas vilkas?

Jonas, Lina's brother, is ten years old when he is deported.

Do Lina and Andrius get married?

Though Andrius and Lina are separated after Lina and her family are moved from the first camp, Lina's letter in the epilogue shows that the two survived, reconnected, and eventually married.

Who dies in between shades of gray?

Jonas almost dies from scurvy, and Andrius saves him by stealing a can of tomatoes from the NKVD officers. The NKVD try to force the deportees to sign a document sentencing them to twenty-five years of hard labor for their crimes against the state, but many of the deportees resist.

Why is the book called salt to the sea?

Salt To The Sea Title Meaning

Throughout this WW2 novel, we realize how much bigger the world is and our small part in it. War takes away personality–with the goal to dehumanize–just like salt blends and dissolves into the sea. Sepetys' mission is to bring these quiet but powerful stories to life.

What ship was salt to the sea based on?

At the center of "Salt To The Sea" is the true story of a doomed German ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Late in the war, this one-time cruise ship became part of a massive evacuation of German soldiers and civilians plus refugees from Poland, Lithuania and beyond.

What boat sank in salt to the sea?

Sepetys' new book, Salt to the Sea, also draws on a family history from that era. It's about the doomed German ship Wilhelm Gustloff, which was sunk by three Russian torpedoes in January 1945. The ship carried soldiers and thousands of civilians, many of them children from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

Where did Ruta Sepetys go to high school?

That's the power of books,” said Sepetys, of Nashville, Tenn. An alumna of Harrison High School in Farmington Hills and Hillsdale College – where she earned her undergraduate degree in finance – the former music industry executive has penned three young adult historical fiction novels.

What awards has Ruta Sepetys won?

Penguin Young Readers author Ruta Sepetys has won the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal, one of the UK's most prestigious children's literary awards, for her novel SALT TO THE SEA (Philomel Books/Puffin), a fictionalized account of the sinking of German ocean liner the Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945.

How did Emilia get pregnant in Salt to the Sea?

It is revealed that Emilia is eight months pregnant from an assault by Russian soldiers; Florian, the restoration artist, is on the run for stealing a piece of art of the Amber Room; and Joana feels responsible for some of the deaths of her family.