Ruta Sepetys Wins The 2017 Golden Kite Award For YA

Salt to the Sea win the 2017 Golden Kite Award for YA

Ruta Sepetys is an internationally acclaimed author of historical fiction published in over fifty countries and thirty-six languages. Sepetys is considered a “crossover” novelist as her books are read by both students and adults worldwide. Her novels, Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea are all New York Times bestsellers and are currently in development for film and television. Ruta is an SCBWI success story and two-time recipient of the Golden Kite Award.

Ruta tells us that while "Salt to the Sea" is her third published novel, it's not the third book she's written. She relates the very funny story about her first book written, the one she wrote when she was nine years old – and the whole conference room is laughing at how that first book of hers was banned. And how that experience "stole my courage" and she didn't write again for over 20 years.

12 years ago she came to this conference with a Middle Grade mystery, got a critique, and it didn't go well. And Ruta was devastated. And she went to a session with Steven Malk, and he spoke about career guidance, and he said, "creative people have a lot of options… and I like to work with an author and help them find the right road."

Steven became her agent, and helped her choose the road to take, and that's what set her on this path.

And Ruta says to us all,

"Our very best work, it's up the road. It's in front of us."

Ruta Sepety's "Between Shades Of Gray" Becomes A Movie, "Ashes In The Snow"

left to right: author Ruta Sepetys, editor Jonathan Dillon, and director Marius Markevicius

In this special sneak peek, Ruta and the film's director, Marius Markevicius, and the film's editor, Jonathan Dillon, share two scenes from the film (just for us!) and then speak about the adaptation process.

Some highlights:

"The editing process is the final re-write." - Jonathan Dillon

Marius speaks of the "Massive narrative compression" involved in taking a book and making it a movie.

They discuss Ruta's involvement, how the film was shot 100% in Lithuania, the international cast of actors, how extras would come up to the filmmakers during the shooting and share that they were in Siberia, that the story had personal resonance for them, too.

"Through characters and story, history becomes human." - Ruta Sepetys

The film goes to film festivals this fall, and they're looking for a theatrical release in 2018.

Transforming Life Into Art Panel Begins!

Moderated by Emma Dryden (standing), the panelists are (left to right): Alex Gino, Aisha Saeed, Ruta Sepetys, and Kim Turrisi.

A Golden Kite for Ruta Sepetys

The Golden Kite Award for fiction goes to Ruta Sepetys for her debut novel BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY.

Ruta considers herself an SCBWI success story, and now she is accepting the Golden Kite for her debut novel. 

Ruta needed more than luck. She needed an agent and an editor that believed that history matters. She found just that. 

Ruta says she had the worst critique in SCBWI history, her first critique. She was told her story was obnoxious, annoying, that her narrative voice was grating, and if the person would have had to read one more word she would have hung herself.

She picked herself up with the help of our SCBWI community, and then sent an exclusion query for her middle grade novel to an agent and was asked to send along the full. At the last minute she decided to include the first five pages of BETWEEN SHADES GRAY, which started it all. 

Ruta's husband has joked with her that one day she will receive a letter that reads:

Dear Ruta, 

You owe the SCBWI everything. 

From,

SCBWI

SCBWI Success Stories

Each panelist has found SCBWI to a part of their success along the way: getting them started, keeping them going as they traveled their path to publication, as well as being important once the contract came.

A piece of advice from each of the panelists:

Chris Rylander: The only thing that can stop you from being published is stopping.

Chris Rylander's debut novel THE FOURTH STALL is this year's Sid Fleischman Award for humor. 

Lissa Price: Remember that last year I was the one sitting out in those seats. Next year you could be sitting up here.

Lissa Price is debut novel is STARTERS. The follow-up in the series ENDERS will be out in December.

 Ruta Sepetys: Don’t be afraid of change. Be open.

Ruta Sepetys is the author of the NYT bestselling BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY. 

Clare Vanderpool: Hold on to the moments that excite you.

Clare Vanderpool's debut novel MOON OVER MANIFEST was awarded the 2011 Newbery Medal. Her second novel NAVIGATING EARLY comes out in 2013.

Ruta Sepetys' Keynote: You Can't Break The Broken: Writing Emotional Truth

Ruta speaking to over 1,200 rapt writers and illustrators

Ruta Sepetys is a dynamo.

And her book, Between Shades of Gray, is remarkable (that's why it's won that raft of awards!)

Ruta is sharing about how she knew only a little bit of her family's history - That her grandfather fled with their immediate family to escape Stalin's execution squad in Lithuania during World War Two.  They made it after years in refugee camps to America, and Ruta grew up here, in Freedom.

But on a trip back to Lithuania, Ruta discovered that when the Soviets came for her Grandfather and his family (Ruta's father) and they were gone, they instead took twelve members of their larger family, deported them to Siberia, and only one of the twelve survived.

That her own freedom in the United States came at the cost of the lives and freedom of their family back in Lithuania.

This secret of history became Ruta's story.  The story she had to tell.

She's asking us to consider,

In writing the truth, what's the price of admission?

How much are you willing to expose of your deepest feelings?

What is the novel that only you can write?

What is the piece of art the only you can create?

You can reveal that to yourself by answering these questions:

What are you longing for?

What do you hide?

What scares you the most?

What causes you pain?

What do you wish would just go away?

If you expose the emotional truth behind these answers into your writing, into a character, you'll enter a creative and emotional partnership with the reader.

And you will write a book that will stay with them forever.

And now Ruta goes deep with us, sharing about her "savage self," telling us about how she went to a former Soviet gulag in Latvia for a 24 hour simulation experience.  For the book.  And how just seconds of the experience changed her.  Forever.

In an atmosphere of cruelty, what she learned about herself.

It is chilling to hear.

Tears flow on stage and around us.

And now we're laughing with her, tears from laughter.

And then her experience of kindness amidst cruelty, and how it changed her again, forever.

We're lifted up as Ruta shares that she learned that Lithuania is a small country but they can teach the world big lessons of love and courage.

That we, as writers and illustrators, can make books that readers won't just want, that they'll need.  Art that heals hearts, and heals history.

This what Ruta did with her book.  And she urges us to do it with ours.

We are swept to our feet in an ovation.

Ruta Septys' PROtrack Workshop: Media Prep: Author Tips for Radio, TV and Print Coverage

Ruta Sepetys is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Between Shades of Gray.”

Her debut novel is published in over 30 countries and 26 languages, is a Carnegie Medal nominee, a William C. Morris finalist, a New York Times Notable Book, a Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book, iTunes Best Teen Novel, a SCBWI Crystal Kite Members Choice Award Winner, and the 2012 winner of the Golden Kite Award for Fiction. (She'll be awarded that statuette on Sunday at the Golden Kite Luncheon!)

In 2007 Ruta won SCBWI’s Work-In-Progress grant for Between Shades of Gray, and she credits SCBWI for her path to publication.

Ruta has become a master at Media, and has lots to share with us from doing press and media (radio, TV, print) in 20 different countries.

You need a one sentence description of your book, that covers character, setting, and time.  Hers for Between Shades of Gray is:

"My book is about the journey of a 15 year old Lithuanian artist who is deported to Siberia during World War Two."

Some of her advice:


90% of time, the host hasn't read your book, MAYBE they read the press release, but you need to drive the discussion.

Have at least three message points, which you can formulate by answering these questions:


What is the point that you want to make about your book?
What is unique about your book?
What do you want the world to know about your book?


One of her message points is:  

This is an untold story and the world knows very little of Stalin's purge of the Baltic region.

She also explained how message points need their corresponding sound bytes, 


the match for the above message point is:

"history holds secrets"

Ruta works with attendees on OUR message points and sound bytes, then goes into the dos and don't, nuts and bolts of being interviewed on radio, TV and in print.


She explains about Bridges and Pivots (Techniques to communicate your point without waiting for the perfect question and how to get to one of your message points.)


Ruta gives us her advice on how to be memorable, stay in control, what to realize when you're being translated, how to avoid being quoted for something you didn't intend, and even how to respond to aggressive questions from audiences.


The session is masterful - we're laughing at all the mishaps that happened to Ruta and the horror stories she's sharing, but at the same time we're learning that we're the beneficiaries of her experience... as she said at the session's start, this is the workshop she wishes she could have taken before she sold her book...


It was, in a word:


Invaluable.