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Honors Student Reaction: NSU Common Read by Ruta Sepetys By Gregory Lux, NSU Honors Program freshman From the very first time you see Ruta Sepetys speak in person, you can tell she is a very knowledgeable and passionate person. She must be, after spending 3 years researching for her newest book, Salt to the Sea . The historical fiction novel is a fantastic, thought provoking, read. Listening to Sepetys’ journey of writing Salt to the Sea enhanced my experience of reading it. Ruta Sepetys, author of the 8 th annual NSU Common Read, spoke on October 4, 2017 in Johnson Fine Arts Center. Sepetys is a wonderful speaker who drew in the audience from the beginning of her speech and kept our attention until the end. Sepetys told us how her motivation to write the book came from hearing her own family’s story of fleeing from Latvia during World War II as refugees. She wanted to share their story, and through her extensive research ended up sharing thousands more hidden stories of WWll refugees’ struggles, triumphs, and family histories. The sinking of theWilhelmGustloff inWWll, which killed more than 9,000 people, was a tragedy largely kept silent after the war. Even more shocking is how many families kept the individual stories of survivors and those who died silent. Ruta Sepetys shared these stories and let these people’s voices be heard for the first time. During her talk, Sepetys shed light on these hidden stories and told us how the title of the book, the book cover, and the way the book is pitched is different across the world. I loved how Sepetys accepted her reader’s opinions on her book. She talked with joy about all the different responses she got from people who read Salt to the Sea around the world, as the book has been published in 36 languages in more than 50 countries. Her view of what she thought her book should mean to the reader never got in her way. Readers’ feedback on her book, in her own words, “taught me more about my book, than you guys learned from my book.” Across countries, the entire message of the book changed, and it never bothered her. She in fact loved it and was motivated by the reactions. Sepetys self-funded the three years of research it took her to write Salt to the Sea . She traveled all around the Baltic Sea area and into southern Germany. She interviewed divers in Poland who visited the sunken Wilhelm Gustloff and conveyed their description of the site as a sea of bones. Funding her own research gave Sepetys the freedom to go where she wanted and dig up really interesting stories and artifacts. She talked to a man who had a chandelier from the Wilhelm Gustloff hidden in his house! People who heard she was researching the Gustloff sent her items, photos, and stories that survivors of the Gustloff had preserved. She learned that one of the items she received, a box of utensils that was sitting in a box under her desk, belonged to Adolf Hitler. These stories made me want to hear more. Not just about this part of history, but all of history. Sepetys telling the story of the Wilhelm Gustloff brought thousands of reactions from all around the globe. This showed me the power of history, and especially the power of storytelling. History is important because we can learn from it and because we can tell forgotten people’s stories. Ruta Sepetys told these stories well with Salt to the Sea . H O N O R S A L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R 5 Author Ruta Sepetys signed books for Northern students and Aberdeen community members for over an hour in the newly renovated foyer of Johnson Fine Arts Center. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is the 8 th annual NSU Common Read. N O R T H E R N S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y