Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys or Rūta Šepetys (born November 19, 1967) is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction. As an author, she is a #1 New York Times bestseller, international bestseller, and winner of the Carnegie Medal. Sepetys is a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow and the first American writer of young adult literature to speak at European Parliament. Her work is published in over fifty countries and thirty languages and is currently in development for two films. 2Biography Born in Detroit, Michigan, Sepetys is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. She holds a B.S. in International Finance from Hillsdale College. While overseas, Sepetys also studied at the Centre d’études Européennes in Toulon, France and at the ICN Graduate Business School 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, multi-platinum songwriter Desmond Child, Orange County modern rockers Lit (band), 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 differenc