Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys is a Lithuanian-American author of historical fiction and a number-one New York Times bestselling author. Born and raised in Michigan, she writes novels that recover overlooked episodes of twentieth-century history, often presenting war, occupation and political repression through the experiences of young people. Her books are read by both adults and younger readers and have been published in more than sixty countries and forty languages.

Her novels include Between Shades of Gray, about the Soviet deportation of Lithuanians; Salt to the Sea, centred on refugees and the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff; The Fountains of Silence, set in Francoist Spain; and I Must Betray You, which explores life under Romania’s communist dictatorship. Sepetys won the Carnegie Medal for Salt to the Sea, while Between Shades of Gray was adapted as the film Ashes in the Snow. Her fiction is distinguished by extensive research, multiple perspectives and a focus on people whose experiences have often been excluded from conventional historical narratives.