In the Wild (Fan Feature)

Jess Ferro (AliceinBakerSt) with her copy of Out of the Easy

So excited to read it!! Awesome that it came out on Mardi Gras :)

(click on pic and it will get bigger)

She also posted a review for Between Shades of Gray on her blog last year! Check it out!
Alice in Baker Street

She also had some awesome things to say about Ruta!
“Out of the truth and grit of reality, can come so much beauty. Even if it’s not the typical beauty, but it’s the beauty of reality and people and relationships.”

Yup. Pretty much sums up Ruta’s writing lol.

Let me know what you guys think and send me your pics with Out of the Easy.

Hannah

Press for Out of the Easy

You guys!!! Out of the Easy is just around the corner! So close you can almost hold it in your hands!!! I already have a copy and even I am excited to get my hands on a finished copy! You are all going to love it so much! Out of the Easy is just as amazing as Between Shades of Gray with a spunky lead and New Orleans soul.

Here are some reviews and press updates on Out of the Easy!

Kirkus starred Review

Amazon Best Book Pick

A full page in Entertainment Weekly (and in Ruta’s words “WOO HOO!”)

Shout out in the Wall Street Journal

New York Times Review

I’ll post more as it comes out!

Please. Please. PLEASE don’t hesitate to let me know all of your thoughts about Out of the Easy! Please email me at Hannah_TBV@yahoo.com with your thoughts! If I get enough I will feature some on here! Let me know your name (or name you want to be shows), where you are from, and what you thought of it!

Also, winners from the soundtrack download contest have all been notified! Thanks for participating!

You guys all rock! Thanks so much for supporting Ruta!

Hannah

22 Days!!! And some Events!

It’s only 22 days until Out of the Easy will be out in the world! I am so excited and I know you guys are so excited! I can vouch for Ruta, since Marla and I have already gotten to read it, it is spectacular! Once again Ruta writes an amazing tale of grit and truth and just plain awesomeness. She just announced her tour dates for Out of the Easy!! I will also be putting them up over in the Ruta On Tour tab!

2013

Tuesday, January 8
Nashville, TN
Let’s Talk Books
Parnassus Books
1:30 p.m.

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Thursday, January 24
Nashville, TN
Vanderbilt University
Discussion With Children’s Literature Class

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January 26-28
Seattle, WA
ALA Midwinter

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January 30 – February 3
New York, NY

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Tuesday, February 12
“Out of the Easy” Publication Date!

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Wednesday, February 13
Memphis, TN
Booksellers at Laurelwood
387 Perkins Road Extended
Author Appearance & Discussion
6:00 p.m.

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Friday, February 15
Austin, TX
School Events

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Saturday, February 16
Pasadena, CA
SCIBA Children’s Literacy Dinner

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Tuesday, February 19
New Orleans, LA
The Garden District Bookshop
2727 Prytania Street
A Discussion with Ruta Sepetys & Christine Wiltz (author of “The Last Madam” )
6:00 p.m.

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Wednesday, February 20
Coral Gables, FL
Books and Books
265 Aragon Avenue
Author Appearance & Book Discussion
7:00 p.m.

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Thursday, February 21
Miami, FL
School Events

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Friday, February 22
Washington, DC
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Avenue Northwest
Author Appearance & Book Discussion
7:00 p.m.
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Friday, March 1
Austin, TX
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar Blvd.
Author Appearance & Book Discussion
7:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, March 6
Hingham, MA
Notre Dame Academy
Author Appearance & Book Discussion

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Thursday, March 7
Cambridge, MA
Porter Square Books
25 White Street
Author Appearance & Book Discussion
7:00 p.m.

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Monday, March 11
Raleigh, NC
North Carolina Reading Association Conference

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March 14 – 17
Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig Book Fair

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March 18-19
London, England
Details Coming Soon!

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March 22-24
Paris, France
Salon du Livre

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March 27
Brussels, Belgium
European Parliament
Presentation of “Between Shades of Gray”

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April 24-27
Fort Worth, TX
Texas Library Association Conference

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Friday, May 17
Nashville, TN
Battle of the Books
Nashville Public Library
9:30 a.m.

I hope you guys all have an event near you so you can meet Ruta! And don’t forget to enter in to win a soundtrack download card for the Between Shades of Gray official soundtrack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hannah

A Mini-Contest!

Hey guys! I’ve got a mini-contest for you all! Some of you may know that Between Shades of Gray has its own official soundtrack composed by Gavin Mikhail! I have four soundtrack cards to give away! What is a soundtrack card you may ask? Well, the soundtrack card gives you a free album download! Two of these cards are signed by Ruta! The other two are still awesome though because you get the album!

Just click on the link below to enter!*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Once again the prizes are:
2 SIGNED Album Download cards for the original Between Shades of Gray soundtrack composed by Gavin Mikhail
2 UNSIGNED Album Download cards for the original Between Shades of Gray soundtrack composed by Gavin Mikhail

Hannah

PS: Out of the Easy releases just around the corner!

*Note: This contest is open to US participants only. So sorry to the international community! Hopefully there will be one soon for everyone!

It’s Coming!!

In just over a month we will all have a new Ruta Sepetys books to read! Trust me, this one is just as awesome as Between Shades of Gray. Josie’s got sass!

Hannah

Discussion Post by Hannah

Recently I finished reading Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys and I really loved it! The novel will be released in February 2013 so I can’t post a review up on here just yet but I don’t think they will mind me mentioning a few non-spoiler things. While reading the book I couldn’t help but also think of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. While both of the books have very different stories, once you get down to the root of it all they both teach the same lessons.

The most obvious similarity between the two main characters, Ponyboy (The Outsiders) and Josie (Out of the Easy is their social standing, their place on the social ladder of life, if you will. Ponyboy is an orphaned greaser trying to make it in a world that is ready to spit in his eye and throw him in jail at any moment. Josie is the daughter of a prostitute in the French Quarter of New Orleans fighting to not fall down the same path as her mother.

Throughout Out of the Easy it is made very clear that Josie has the ability (but not the money) to make a life for herself outside of New Orleans and away from the world that she was brought up in. It is amazing how the people in her life rally around support her dream of going to Smith College. Even the people in her life that think she can’t make it out of New Orleans still support her dream of going to college. Like Pony her parents are essentially gone. Her father is unknown and her mother spends most of her time forgetting she has a daughter or trying to use her for her own gain.

Similarly in The Outsiders everyone in “The Gang” knows that Ponyboy is the only one of them with a real chance in life. Darry gave up his chance at going to college so that he could keep his two younger brothers out of a boy’s home. Ponyboy, for the most part, likes school and is good at it. Darry pushes him to get good grades (a point which often makes the two brothers butt-heads) because he knows that Pony can have a better life than they did growing up. Ponyboy has a chance to make it out of “the neighborhood”. One of my favorite moment’s at the end of the novel is when Pony starts school back up again and goes to lunch with Two-Bit and Steve. While Steve and Two-Bit are inside flirting with the ladies some of the Soc’s start messing with Pony. Pony pulls the bottle on him and the Soc’s leave. Two-Bit and Steve come out and mention how Pony is not like them and he shouldn’t turn into the rest of the Greasers.

Both stories have the characters dealing with major deaths. *Note* No, this is not giving away any spoilers! It’s already in the book descriptions *End Note* Between Shades of Gray, Ruta’s first novel, was practically a bloodbath so I shouldn’t have been surprised that Out of the Easy had a few deaths too. I won’t tell you (because I promised this would NOT be a spoiler post) whether or not these were named characters or the significance they play in the story. Nope. Sorry, promised I woudn’t tell, but you can buy the book when it comes out in February. The Outsiders as we all know (and seriously if you haven’t read The Outsiders then you need to hop on that immediately!) Both characters face hard deaths, deaths that make them face the world as it is and try and find a way to continue living. Both characters take tremendous strides in life because of those deaths.

Each story starts with a death. Ponyboy gets into a scuffle with the Socs and one is killed. Josie’s world changes with a mysterious death in the Quarter. (I feel like I’ve been saying this too much but…*that was not a spoiler!*) The entirety of both of these stories is how each of the characters, and the communities around them, react to those deaths. All of their previous choices in life are challenged, both by themselves and, of course, by outside sources.

To conclude this long post, both of these stories have such great endings. They are great because they are real. That is also such an amazing quality that both authors possess, writing real fiction not making it glamorous, but instead telling the truth.

What do you guys think about the comparison?

Hannah

Ruta Wins Crystal Kite Award

A big, resounding Congratulations! to Ruta, who was presented with SCBWI’s prestigious Cyrstal Kite Award on Saturday at the 2012 SCBWI Midsouth Fall Conference.  We here at RutaFans were so honored and happy to be there to see her win this amazing award and wish her many more to come.

Photo from SCBWI Midsouth

Congratulations, Ruta!

Out of the Easy Giveaway!

It’s time for the first (of many hopefully!) giveaway here on RutaFans!

We are giving away one signed advanced copy of Out of the Easy! We are making it super easy to enter the contest with this handy dandy rafflecopter form. If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just click on the link and it will take you to a page where you can enter!

This giveaway is open internationally so Ruta fans all over the world can take part!!

UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that the twitter follow option is mandatory and not everyone has a twitter account. I have now made it optional like all of the other entry options. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Hannah

Ruta Makes Front Page!

From The Greenery

*

Ruta made the front page of the Nashville City Paper. Be sure to check out the interview in the Nashville City Paper

I am also working on building Ruta’s Wikipedia page. If anyone is really good at building these let me know and maybe we can work together!

Hannah

*Photo credit: The Greenery

Hannah’s Interview with Ruta

This is an interview that I did with Ruta back in October. I hope you enjoy it!

 

1) I had the privilege of getting to see you at the Nashville stop of the Ash2Nash tour where you told the story about your family’s experience during World War II. The silence that filled the room when you were done really spoke to everyone’s shock, how did you react when you were first told about what happened? Had you had any idea before about the fate of your relatives?

RS – Just like you, I was shocked. I knew that my father and grandparents had left Lithuania and I knew that the country had been Soviet occupied for fifty years. But I didn’t know that some of my grandfather’s extended family had been deported to Siberia. I was stunned and felt ashamed that I wasn’t familiar with my own family’s history. It inspired me to try to give voice to the people who experienced Stalin’s terror but would never have a chance to tell their story.

2) In the story, Lina’s mother reminded me so much of my own mother, and her brother of my own little brother. As I was reading I could not help but imagine myself as Lina, and of how I would react in her situation. Did you put yourself into Lina’s position while you were writing and was this story difficult at times to write? Was it your intention to write a character that was easily relatable to the youth of today even though our experiences are so different?

RS – The story was definitely difficult to write because I knew that the horrific things I was describing actually happened to people. Many of the survivors I interviewed spent their teen years in Siberia and their stories were so compelling. The teens’ will to live was incredibly strong. The story started percolating in my mind immediately: One girl. Her dream of freedom. A voice to bring this secret out of the dark.

I was never really able to imagine myself as Lina because I met people like her and knew that I didn’t have that kind of strength. I wish! But I absolutely thought about what it would be like to be deported. I was constantly plagued with the question: Would I survive?

3) The characters in Between Shades of Gray are all so strong and well developed. We get to see a lot of their personalities in the story. Were any of the characters in the story based or inspired by people you knew or heard about in real life?

RS – Thank you! Yes, some of the characters were inspired by real people. The mother, Elena, is a combination of my mother and my older sister. The character of Lina has many qualities of a woman, Irena, who was a teenager in Siberia and helped me with my research. And the doctor who arrives at the end was someone that I read about in the memoirs of Dalia Grinkeviciute, a woman who was deported to the Arctic.

4) I’ve been watching your European book tour on your FaceBook page and you’ve gotten to go to a lot of really cool places. You have been able to visit a lot of nations that were directly affected by the events that you have described in this book. What is their reaction to this book? Has there been any apprehensive reactions or negative feedback from people who were used to the silence?

RS – It’s been such an honor to tour so many countries for the book. My visits to Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland were very emotional. I met people who had experienced the things I wrote about.This part of history belongs to them. I tell people, I wrote the book, but it’s not my story. The story belongs to people who experienced Stalin’s terror. So meeting the real heroes in these countries was very emotional for me. I cried so much that I now have a reputation for crying! On my last visit to Lithuania people were introducing themselves,saying, “Now, don’t cry, Ruta.” But I can’t help it. Everyone has been so supportive and gracious.

5) Looking on your website I saw that Between Shades of Gray has been published in 28 countries. Did you think that this book was going to be this popular and impact as many people as it is in that many nations? Has it been overwhelming at all?

RS – The foreign sales have been the biggest surprise of all. I scarcely believed that a US publisher would publish the book. And now to have this part of history published in nearly 30 countries…it leaves me speechless. See, I’m going to cry again!

6) You are amazingly talented as a writer; did you take any creative writing classes while in school? What would you recommend to any aspiring authors who might be reading this?

RS – Aw, thank you! Actually, my degree is in finance. I know, kind of bizarre for a writer! I dream of one day getting an MFA and am currently looking at different programs. In terms of advice – if you’re looking to write for children or young adults I absolutely suggest joining SCBWI (www.scbwi.org). SCBWI is a fantastic resource for both published and pre-published authors. I would not be a published author without SCBWI. But my general writing advice?

Read.

Read and read and read. Get a sense for structure, rhythm and flow. Examine books you love and determine why you love them. And lastly, try to find a local writing group so you can share your work with others.

7) On your website it said that you did not learn to speak Lithuanian as a child, do you speak any of it now?

RS – Sadly, I don’t speak much Lithuanian at all. I can muster “taip” (yes) and “gerai” (okay) but I can’t follow a full conversation. Not speaking Lithuanian is one of my greatest regrets. So I’m trying to learn now!

8. Your website is probably the coolest author website that I have ever seen how did you come up with the design of it?

RS – I wish I could take credit for the site but I can’t. My dear friend, Niels Bye Nielsen, is a film composer from Denmark. He also happens to be an incredible designer. He designed the site. My pal Jeroen Noorduis from Holland is an insane programmer. He did all the programming and is the webmaster. Priscila Bara, an artist from Brazil, put together the paper dolls and other bits of whimsy. So it was a global effort and the credit should go to them!

Thanks so much Ruta!!

Hannah