Ruta Sepetys, an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction, will be featured in the Follin Speaker Series at The Webb School on May 12. Sepetys is making her second appearance as part of the school’s endowed speaker series.
The award-winning author will speak in the upper school chapel about her newest book I Must Betray You, which was released in paperback May 2. She will discuss her recent research and travels. Some Webb students are reading Sepetys’ Salt to the Sea and Fountains of Silence.
The middle school chapel will include sharing about the upcoming book You: The Story: A Writer’s Guide to Craft Through Memory. The book will be released May 16 and is described on her website as “a powerful how-to book for aspiring writers that presents basic elements of story construction while encouraging you to look inward to discover how memory can fuel creativity and connection.” A Q&A about You: The Story is also included as part of the author’s visit to Webb.
The author’s website notes that she is “published in over sixty countries and forty languages. Sepetys is published in the U.S. by Penguin Random House and is considered a “crossover” novelist as her books are read by both students and adults worldwide. Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is acclaimed for giving voice to underrepresented history and those who experienced it. Her books have won or been shortlisted for over forty book prizes, are included on over thirty state reading lists, and are currently in development for film and television. Her first novel, which chronicles the Soviet atrocities in Lithuania, has been adapted into the renowned major motion picture, Ashes in the Snow. Ruta is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. Born in Michigan, she was raised in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. Ruta is passionate about the power of history and story to foster global dialogue and connectivity. She has been invited to present at NATO, European Parliament, the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress, and Embassies worldwide. She was awarded The Rockefeller Foundation’s prestigious Bellagio Fellowship for her studies on human resilience. Ruta was recently bestowed the Cross of the Knight of the Order by the President of Lithuania for her contributions to education and memory preservation and was honored with a postage stamp containing her image. She is intensely proud to be Lithuanian, even if that means she has a name no one can pronounce. Ruta lives with her family in the hills of Tennessee.”