Ruta Sepetys
Ruta Sepetys or Rūta Šepetys (born November 19, 1967 in Detroit , Michigan ) American writer with Lithuanian roots. Her three novels Between Shades of Gray (2011), Out of the Easy (2013) and Salt to the Sea (2016) have been published in 50 countries, have been translated into 36 languages and were New York Times bestsellers. Sepetys has been nominated twice for the prestigious Carnegie Medal . Between Shades of Gray and Salt to the Sea received the “Notable Children's Book Award” (2011 and 2016) from The New York Times . The international press described Between Shades of Gray as an "excellent debut novel" (New York Times), "fantastic" ( The Guardian ) and "illuminating" ( LA Times ). Her latest novel Salt to the Sea deals with the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and was named one of the Best Books 2016 by Publishers Weekly . Sepetys was the first American author of children and young adults to appear in the European Parliament . In 2016 she gave the opening speech of the children and youth program at the international literature festival berlin . The feature film Ashes in the Snow (2017) is based on her novel Between Shades of Gray . Sepetys lives in Nashville .
Life
Ruta Sepetys is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee and an American. She was born in Michigan, where she grew up with her two older siblings. Although both parents were artistically gifted and tried to pass their skills on to their children, Sepetys dropped out of opera studies and instead studied international finance at Hillsdale College. Then she spent a year in Paris . But she did not lose her love for music. Sepetys moved to Los Angeles with her brother John and began her career in the music industry. She has worked with artists of various nationalities for over twenty years. She began her career with Desmond Child , a famous songwriter who consistently made her aware of the importance of storytelling in the short lyrics. But she didn't tell him that she would like to write stories herself. When Child moved to Miami , she founded her own company and from then on managed well-known musicians, including Steve Vai . After a while, however, she got tired of Los Angeles and moved to Nashville with her brother, teaching a music management class there . On the Belmont University campus, she met Michael Smith, whom she married in 2006.
In 2003 Sepetys decided to write her first youth novel . With her debut novel And in mir the invincible summer , she worked on parts of her own family history. The book is about the deportation of Lithuanian prisoners to Siberian labor camps, in which some of Sepety's relatives were also killed. For her research, she spent 20 hours in a Soviet prison in Latvia . There programs were offered in which the participants played prisoners and were not allowed to eat or sleep for almost a day, had to endure long interrogations and harassment and everything between rats and human feces. Although Sepetys regretted her participation afterwards, she quickly realized how great the suffering of the prisoners must have been.
In 2013 and 2016 she was a member of the jury for The Extraordinary Book award of the children and youth program of the Berlin International Literature Festival .
Sepetys lives with her husband in a tree house in the Tennessee Hills .
Works
Ruta Sepetys is primarily interested in what she calls the “hidden chapters of history”. She writes historical novels for young people, but also has adult readers. For her novels And in me the invincible summer and salt for the sea , she was inspired by her own family history. Her father and grandfather were Lithuanian refugees who were forced to leave their country during World War II . Her second book, A Happiness Forever, is also based on historical facts and takes place in New Orleans in the 1950s. Sepetys announced that she is writing her next book about the children who were taken from their parents and forcibly adopted during the Franco dictatorship in Spain .
Sepetys said about researching her historical novels: "I love historical research. It's like being a detective. I get to interview people and hunt down details and turnover lots of rocks ... when you start hunting down these secret rabbit holes and searching for stories, sometimes the universe responds and stories come hunting for you. "
Between Shades of Gray / And in me the invincible summer
Sepety's first novel And In Me The Invincible Summer was published in 2011 in American by Philomel Books under the title Between Shades of Gray and comprises 384 pages. The German translation was published by Carlsen Verlag in the same year . Henning Ahrens carried out the translation . The story is about 15-year-old Lina and her family, who are deported by Soviet soldiers in 1941 and have to find a way to survive under the cruel conditions that prevail in the prison camps.
Out of the Easy / A happiness forever
A Happiness Forever was published in 2013 by the US publisher SPEAK under the name Out of the Easy . In the following year, the German version, which was also translated by Henning Ahrens, was published by Königskinder . Happiness Forever is the story of Josie, the daughter of a prostitute in New Orleans in the 1950s, who dreams of escaping this juggernaut and going to college.
Salt to the Sea
Salt to the Sea , Sepety's third book, was published on February 2, 2016 by Philomel Books in the American language and comprises 400 pages. The German translation was published by Königskinder Verlag under the title Salt for the Sea . It tells the story of one of the most devastating and yet almost unknown tragedies of World War II - the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff .
bibliography
| 2011: Between Shades of Gray , Philomel, New York, ISBN 978-0399254123 | 2011: And in me the invincible summer , translation: Henning Ahrens , Carlsen , Hamburg, ISBN 978-3551582546 | published in 50 countries |
| 2013: Out of the Easy , Philomel, New York, ISBN 978-0399256929 | 2014: A happiness forever , translation: Henning Ahrens, Königskinder, Hamburg, ISBN 978-3551560025 | published in 17 countries |
| 2016: Salt To The Sea , Philomel, New York, ISBN 978-0399160301 | 2016: Salt for the sea , translation: Henning Ahrens, Königskinder, Hamburg | published in 16 countries |
Awards
Order for Services to Lithuania
On June 6, 2013 Sepetys was awarded the Order for Services to Lithuania in the knight class. She received the award for her contribution to education and culture as well as her worldwide effort to make the history of totalitarianism in the Baltic region better known.
The Rockefeller Foundation
In 2015 Sepetys was invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to the Bellagio Center Residency on Lake Como .
Excellent books
| date | Excellent book | Nomination / award |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Between Shades of Gray | Golden Kite Award for Fiction |
| 2012 | Between Shades of Gray | IRA Children's and Young Adult's Book Award |
| 2013 | Between Shades of Gray | Prix Livrentête Romans Ado |
| 2013 | Between Shades of Gray | Prix Farniente |
| 2014 | Out of the easy | Prix Jeunesse des libraires |
Press review
“In Ruta Sepetys' debut novel And in me the invincible summer , a chapter of world history is portrayed in such a gripping, moving and authentic way that you would have to search the literature market for a long time to find something comparable. The horror of what people have done to people is transported here into a story told with the force of desperation and yet clearly, factually and excitingly, so that young people can empathize with what happened to the victims of those who were deported to Siberian camps. [...] The author, who lives in the USA, has Lithuanian roots herself. To give relatives of her father and the millions of Stalin's victims a voice, she met with survivors and wrote this book. "
“Ruta Sepety's dialogue-rich language gives space to the terrible and the hopeful moments. She also finds literary images for drawing the characters, in the representation of their strengths and weaknesses they get back the dignity that was taken from them as a sacrifice. "
"And once again, Ruta Sepetys acts as champion of the interstitial people so often ignored - whole populations lost in the cracks of history."
Festival and trade fair participation
- 2011: Side entry in Hamburg in October
- 2013: Leipzig Book Fair in March
- 2013: Children's and youth program at the 13th international literature festival in Berlin
Web links
swell
- ↑ http://rutasepetys.com/about/
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/notable-childrens-books-of-2011.html?_r=0
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/books/review/notable-childrens-books-of-2016.html?_r=0
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/books/review/childrens-books-between-shades-of-gray-by-ruta-sepetys.html?src=twrhp&_r=0
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/24/between-shades-grey-sepetys-review
- ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/27/entertainment/la-ca-ruta-sepetys-20110327
- ↑ http://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2016
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from June 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/27/books-marvel-release-comic-book-series-based-guardians-galaxys-drax-destroyer
- ↑ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bel-powley-goes-war-ashes-865290
- ↑ a b Ruta Sepetys
- ↑ http://www.tennessean.com/story/life/2016/01/24/author-ruta-sepetys-nearly-gave-up-writing/77746540/
- ↑ https://www.google.de/search?q=ruta+sepetys&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=MUgXV-r4A8KNgAav9JzwCQ#q=Steve+Vai
- ↑ http://www.tennessean.com/story/life/2016/01/24/author-ruta-sepetys-nearly-gave-up-writing/77746540/
- ↑ http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704461304576216603822173800
- ↑ http://www.npr.org/2016/02/17/466924137/more-died-on-this-wwii-ship-than-on-the-titanic-and-lusitania-combined
- ↑ http://www.slj.com/2016/01/interviews/up-close/listen-now-ruta-sepetys-on-unearthing-an-untold-story-of-world-war-ii-in-salt -to-the-sea /
- ↑ http://mashable.com/2016/01/24/ruta-sepetys-salt-to-the-sea-interview/
- ↑ http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/305597/between-shades-of-gray-by-ruta-sepetys/9780142420591/
- ↑ https://www.carlsen.de/taschenbuch/und-in-mir-der-unbesiegbare-sommer/44878
- ↑ http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/309340/out-of-the-easy-by-ruta-sepetys/9780147508430/
- ↑ https://www.carlsen.de/hardcover/ein-glueck-fuer-immer/34882
- ↑ http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311729/salt-to-the-sea-by-ruta-sepetys/9780399160301/
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from June 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Author Ruta Sepetys Awarded Lithuania's 'Cross of the Knight' for Contributions in Education & Culture . Archived from the original on August 3, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
- ↑ https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/bellagio-center/
- ↑ http://www.scbwi.org/awards/golden-kite-award/125854-2/
- ↑ http://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2012/09/04/authors-and-publishers-ira-children-s-and-young-adults-book-award-entries-due-november -1
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.prixfarniente.be/?page_id=1901
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated June 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/
- ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) sueddeutsche.de
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/books/review/salt-to-the-sea-by-ruta-sepetys.html?_r=0
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sepetys, Ruta |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Lithuanian-American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 19, 1967 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Detroit |