Last month, the Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy’s juniors were treated to a talk by Ruta Sepetys, the author of the New York Times bestseller Between Shades of Gray (Philomel, 2011)—and it was engrossing from beginning to end. In fact, we didn’t even want to return to class because we were so enthralled by her.
Ruta is living proof that some people don’t actually become authors until later in life. At first, Ruta set out to become an opera singer. But after going on tour, she realized that she wasn’t very good at it. Then she worked in the music industry, as a manager in Hollywood, where she spent the next 22 years of her life.
As a writer of historical fiction, Ruta has gone to great lengths to research her books. How many authors do you know who would lock themselves in a train car that was used to transport people to Russian concentration camps or who would spend a whole day in a former Soviet prison, as she did while she was researching Between Shades of Gray? Her willingness to submerge herself in these experiences surprised us, and showed us how daring and passionate she is as a writer. More recently, Ruta has written Out of the Easy (Philomel, 2013), which is set in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The interesting part is that we all live less than 30 minutes away from the French Quarter, yet we don’t know much about what goes on there. Ruta even mentioned that she met a gangster who influenced her latest story.
After being blown away by her talk, the members of Bookmarked were given the opportunity to stay and interact with her. Many of us were so overwhelmed in a good way by her talk that we decided to purchase Out of the Easy. Overall, it was a huge honor to meet and talk to Ruta Sepetys.—Lauren T., age 16
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About Dodie Ownes
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