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ANN ARBOR/YPSILANTI READS AUTHOR
RUTA SEPETYS
APPEARS AT TOWSLEY AUDITORIUM AT WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21
To Discuss This Year’s Reads Book
“BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY”
As Well As Sign Copies of Her Book
The Event Will Occur From 7:00 – 9:00 pm; Doors Open At 6:00 pm
The international bestseller Between Shades Of Gray by former Michigan resident Ruta Sepetys is the 2014 selection for Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads. On Tuesday evening, January 21, the author will make a special appearance at the annual Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads opening event at Towsley Auditorium in the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College.
The public program will occur from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Doors will open at 6 pm to offer the opportunity to enjoy light refreshments and connect with community agencies and representatives who will be staffing information tables in the lobby. Copies of Between Shades Of Gray will be for sale, courtesy of Barnes & Noble, and the event will include a book signing.
Ruta Sepetys is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. The nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia disappeared from maps in 1941 and did not reappear until 1990. As this is a story seldom told, Ruta wanted to give a voice to the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives during Stalin's cleansing of the Baltic region. Born and raised in Michigan in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers, Ruta lives with her family in Tennessee. Between Shades of Gray, her first novel, was inspired by her family's history in Lithuania and is published in 40 countries.
Between Shades Of Gray, her the 2011 debut novel, was a New York Times Notable Book, a Carnegie Medal Nominee, and the winner of the Golden Kite Award, as well as the recipient of a multitude of national and international awards. Based on survivor stories of the genocide of Baltic people, it has become an international bestseller and translated into more than 27 languages.
Washtenaw Community College is located at 4800 Huron River Drive in Ann Arbor Township. For more information about Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads or this event call the Ann Arbor District Library at 734-327-4555.
OTHER EVENTS
(in chronological order)
Thursday, January 9, 7-8:30pm
Lecture: The Memory Wars: Competing Claims of Martyrdom During WWII In Eastern Europe
U-M Professor of History Brian Porter-Szucs presents a lecture giving rich background to the time period of the international award-winning bestseller Between Shades Of Gray by providing a broader context for understanding the ways different groups in Eastern Europe remember the traumatic decade of the 1940s. Tens of millions of people died in Eastern Europe during the Second World War, and Lithuania alone lost approximately 14% of its pre-war population. The region suffered from not one but two occupation regimes, from both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and each brought its own distinctive forms of terror and suffering.
Brian Porter-Szucs is a professor of history at the University of Michigan, where he specializes in the history of Poland and modern Roman Catholicism.
Ann Arbor District Library
Downtown Library - Multi-Purpose Room
343 South Fifth Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Details: 327-4555 or visit aadl.org
Tuesday, February 4, 7-8:30pm
Book Discussion: Between Shades Of Gray
AADL staff lead a discussion of this 2011 international bestseller, which was a New York Times Notable Book, a Carnegie Medal Nominee, and the winner of the Golden Kite Award, as well as the recipient of a multitude of national and international awards. It is the story of fifteen-year-old Lina, a Lithuanian teen living an ordinary life until Soviet officers invade her home and send her family to Siberian work camps, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Based on survivor stories of the genocide of Baltic people, it has been translated into more than 27 languages.
Ann Arbor District Library
Pittsfield Branch
2359 Oak Valley Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Details: 327-4555 or visit aadl.org This event is for Grade 6 to adult
Wednesday, February 11, 3-3:45 pm at Saline District Library.
Teen Book Discussion
Teens in middle and high school are invited to discuss Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, an award winning survival story based on the author’s family. The library is located at 555 N. Maple Road in Saline. Questions? Please call 429-5450.
Thursday, February 27, 7-8:30 pm at Saline District Library.
Adult Book Discussion
Please join us in a discussion of the AA/Y Reads 2014 selection, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. This award-winning historical novel, based on the author’s family, tells the tale of the deportation of Lithuanians to Siberia starting in 1939. The library is located at 555 N. Maple Road in Saline. Questions? Please call 429-5450.