At 22, Cheryl Strayed thought she’d lost everything. Her mother died of cancer, her family scattered in grief, her marriage was soon destroyed and her life spun slowly out of control.
Four years later, feeling she had nothing more to lose, Strayed made an impulsive decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Alone.
The story of that journey, from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State, is told in Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Strayed’s New York Times bestselling memoir.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, April 12, Strayed will read from her work for Washington University in St.Louis’ Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.
The talk — presented as part of The Writing Program’s spring Reading Series — is free and open to the public and takes place in Hurst Lounge, Room 201, Duncker Hall. A reception and book signing will immediately follow.
For more information, call (314) 935-7130.
In addition to Wild, Strayed is the author of the novel Torch (2006) and the forthcoming Tiny Beautiful Things, a collection of her “Dear Sugar” columns for TheRumpus.net. Her writing also has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, Allure, Self, The Missouri Review, Brain, Child and The Sun, among others.
Strayed’s essays and stories have been anthologized in The Best American Essays and The Best New American Voices. Torch was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award and was selected by The Oregonian as one of the top 10 books of the year by writers from the Pacific Northwest.
Other honors include a Pushcart Prize and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
Strayed holds an MFA in fiction writing from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
She is a founding member of VIDA: Women In Literary Arts, and serves on its board of directors. Raised in Minnesota, she now lives in Portland, Ore., with her husband, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, and their two children.