Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys or Rūta Šepetys (born November 19, 1967) is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction. She is best known for her novel, Between Shades of Gray, which was a New York Times Bestseller and Carnegie Medal finalist. Sepetys is a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow and the first American writer of young adult literature to speak at the European Parliament. Her work is published in over forty countries and thirty languages.

Biography

Sepetys was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. She holds a B.S. in International Finance from Hillsdale College. While in school Sepetys also studied at the Centre d’études Européennes in Toulon, France and at the ICN in Nancy, France.

Following graduation Sepetys moved to Los Angeles. In 1994 she launched Sepetys Entertainment Group, Inc., an entertainment management firm representing Grammy-award-winning guitarist Steve Vai, Orange County modern rock band Lit, and Emmy-nominated film composer Niels Bye Nielsen. In 2002 Sepetys was featured in Rolling Stone magazine’s 'Women in Rock' special issue as a woman driven to make a difference. Sepetys 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, TN.