Embassy of Lithuania in Sweden together with partners presented a novel about deportations written by Rūta Šepetys.
1-2 October, 2012 works of Lithuanian-American writer Rūta Šepetys were presented in Stockholm for the second time this year. Presentations were initiated by the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in association withStockholm University and French School in Stockholm. During the meetings at the Stockholm University and the French School R. Šepetys presented her book about deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia “Between Shades of Grey” which has been translated into Swedish and has become an international bestseller. A separate meeting also took place with the representatives of the Department of Baltic languages at Stockholm University. During the opening of the event at Stockholm University Lithuanian ambassador Eitvydas Bajarūnas noted that the novel of R. Šepetys has become very popular in Sweden and it gave the Swedish people an opportunity to learn more about the hard past of our nation.
A week before R. Šepetys together with other Lithuanian authors participated in the annual International Book Fair in Gothenburg. Together with Vytautas V. Landsbergis, Jonas Ohman, Eglė Paulina Pukytė and Mari Poisson (Marija Jurgeleviciene) – both currently living in London, and Dalia Staponkutė (residing in Cyprus) participated in two seminars. One of them, “Voices from a silenced past”, presented Lithuanian history of soviet occupation, the second one, “Women émigré writers: searching for ethnic identity”, discussed emigration from the writers’ perspective. There was also a staged literacy event at the prestigious Hvitfeldiska Gymnasiet in Gothenburg where R. Sepetys, V.V. Landsbergis and J. Ohman participated together with the students. During the performance excerpts from resistance memoirs, archival documents, reports, letters and literary works were read in different languages. Performances were supported by the Embassy of Lithuania.
The novel “Between Shades of Grey” written by R. Šepetys is a worldwide popular historical novel telling the story about deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia during the World War II. The book has been translated into 27 languages and has received many international awards.
