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Cheryl Strayed

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Cheryl Strayed
Strayed at the Texas Book Festival, 2012
Strayed at the Texas Book Festival, 2012
BornCheryl Nyland
(1968-09-17) September 17, 1968 (age 55)
Spangler, Pennsylvania
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
CitizenshipUnited States
Subjectmemoir, fiction, personal essays
Notable worksTorch, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
SpousesMarco Littig (1988-1995)
Brian Lindstrom (1999-present)

Cheryl Strayed (/ˈstreɪd/; née Nyland; born September 17, 1968) is an American memoirist, novelist and essayist. Strayed's personal essays have been published widely in national magazines and journals and have twice been selected for inclusion in The Best American Essays. She won a Pushcart Prize for her essay "Munro Country," which first appeared in The Missouri Review.[1]

Her second book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail was published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf on March 20, 2012, and has been translated into more than thirty languages. From July 15, 2012, for seven consecutive weeks, it was No. 1 on the "New York Times Best Seller list" in hardcover non-fiction.[2] In June 2012, Oprah Winfrey announced that Wild was her first selection for her new Oprah's Book Club 2.0.

In 2010, Strayed began writing the "Dear Sugar" advice column for the literary web site The Rumpus. The column grew a fervent online following and in July 2012, a collection of the columns was published by Vintage Books as Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar. It debuted in the advice and self-help category on the "New York Times Best Seller list" at No. 5 and has also been published internationally.

Strayed's first book, the novel Torch, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in February 2006 to positive critical reviews.[3] "Torch" was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award and selected by The Oregonian as one of the top ten books of 2006 by writers living in the Pacific Northwest.[4] In October 2012, "Torch" was re-issued by Vintage Books with a new introduction by Strayed.

Early life

Strayed was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Barbara Anne "Bobbi" (née Grey; 1945-1991) and Ronald Nyland. At age five, she moved with her family to Chaska, Minnesota. Her parents divorced a year later. At age 13, she moved with her mother and stepfather Glenn Lambrecht, along with her two siblings, Karen and Leif, to rural Aitkin County, where they lived in a house that they had built themselves on 40 acres. The house did not have electricity or running water for the first few years. Indoor plumbing was installed after Strayed moved away for college. She later re-connected with her half-sister from a previous relationship of her father's.[5]

In 1986, at age 17, Strayed graduated from McGregor High School in McGregor, Minnesota, where she was a track and cross country runner, cheerleader, and homecoming queen. She loosely based the fictional Coltrap County in her novel Torch on McGregor and Aitkin County. Strayed attended her freshman year of college at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, but by her sophomore year, she transferred to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating magna cum laude with a double major in English and Women's Studies. In March 1991, when Strayed was a senior in college, her mother, Bobbi Lambrecht, died suddenly of lung cancer at age 45. Strayed has described this loss as her "genesis story". She has written about her mother's death and her grief in each of her books and several of her essays.[6]

Strayed worked as a waitress, youth advocate, political organizer, temporary office employee, and emergency medical technician [7] throughout her 20s and early 30s, while writing and often traveling around the United States. In 2002, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing from Syracuse University,[7] where she was mentored by writers George Saunders, Arthur Flowers, Mary Gaitskill, and Mary Caponegro.

Career

In addition to her books Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, and Torch, Strayed has published essays in various magazines, including The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Allure, The Missouri Review, and The Sun Magazine.[8] Her work has been selected twice for inclusion in The Best American Essays ("Heroin/e" in the 2000 edition, and "The Love of My Life" in the 2003 edition). She has also won a Pushcart Prize for her essay, "Munro Country," which was originally published in The Missouri Review.[1] The essay is about a letter Strayed received from Alice Munro, when she was a young writer and Munro's influence on Strayed's writing.[9]

Strayed writes the popular advice column "Dear Sugar" on The Rumpus.[10] She began writing the column in March 2010, when the column's originator Steve Almond asked her to take over for him.[11] She wrote the column anonymously until February 14, 2012, when she revealed her identity as "Sugar" at a "Coming Out Party" hosted by the Rumpus at the Verdi Club in San Francisco.[10][12][13] A selection of her columns have been collected in her book Tiny Beautiful Things.

Her memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail details her 1,100-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon-Washington border and tells the story of the personal struggles that compelled her to take the hike.[14] Three months before her memoir was published, actress Reese Witherspoon optioned it for her company, Pacific Standard.[12][15] Nick Hornby adapted Wild for the screen, with Witherspoon portraying Strayed in the film.[16]

In June 2012, Wild was chosen as the inaugural selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0, which is a relaunch of Oprah's Book Club, which ended in 2011. Oprah's Book Club 2.0 uses online social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Winfrey discussed Wild in her video announcement of the new club. Winfrey interviewed Strayed for a two-hour broadcast of her show Super Soul Sunday on her OWN Network.[17]

Film adaptation of Wild

Main article: Wild (film)

The film adaptation of Wild was released on December 3, 2014 in the United States with actress Reese Witherspoon starring as Strayed. The film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Witherspoon optioned Wild for film with producer Bruna Papandrea for their production company, Pacific Standard, a few months before Wild was published. The book was adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby. In October 2013, the film went into production with Witherspoon in the lead. The cast includes Laura Dern (as Strayed's mother, Bobbi), Gaby Hoffmann, Thomas Sadoski, Michiel Huisman, and Kevin Rankin among others.

Personal life

Strayed married Marco Littig on August 20, 1988.[18] They were married for six years.[19]

In 1999, Strayed married filmmaker Brian Lindstrom. They have two children and live in Portland, Oregon.[20] Her daughter, Bobbi Strayed Lindstrom, played the younger version of Strayed in the film adaptation of Wild.[21]

A long-time feminist activist, Strayed served on the first board of directors for Vida: Women in Literary Arts.[8]

Published works

References

  1. ^ a b "Pushed Into Munro Country | TMR Blog". Missourireview.com. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  2. ^ Taylor, Ihsan. "Best Sellers - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  3. ^ "Mother, Brace Yourself". Nytimes.com. 2009-05-27. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  4. ^ "Top Ten Northwest". The Oregonian. Dec 31, 2006. p. O12.
  5. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416451/Wild-author-Cheryl-Strayed-reconnects-half-sister-thanks-book.html accessed 8/10/14
  6. ^ Kirch, Clare (Jan 9, 2012). "Girl gone wild: Cheryl Strayed". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 259, no. 2.
  7. ^ a b "Cheryl Strayed." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Board of Directors". Vida: Women in Literary Arts. Retrieved Jan 26, 2013.
  9. ^ Jeff Baker, The Oregonian. "Portland writer Cheryl Strayed wins Pushcart Prize". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  10. ^ a b Errico, Sally. "Dear Sugar's True Identity". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  11. ^ Almond, Steve (2012). "Introduction". Tiny beautiful things : advice on love and life from Dear Sugar. New York: Vintage Books. p. 4. ISBN 9780307949332.
  12. ^ a b Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian. "Portland writer Cheryl Strayed reveals she is popular advice columnist 'Dear Sugar'". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  13. ^ "Cheryl Strayed Is Sugar!(!!!)". The Rumpus.net. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  14. ^ "Wild by Cheryl Strayed - Cheryl Strayed Interview". Oprah.com. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  15. ^ Hallett, Alison (2012-03-15). "Cheryl Strayed's Wild Optioned by Reese Witherspoon | Blogtown, PDX". Blogtown.portlandmercury.com. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  16. ^ Andrew Pulver (Nov 30, 2012). "Nick Hornby to go Wild for new Reese Witherspoon film". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved Jan 26, 2013.
  17. ^ "Oprah Announces Oprah's Book Club 2.0 - Video". Oprah.com. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  18. ^ "Wild Movie True Story - Real Cheryl Strayed vs. Reese Witherspoon". Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  19. ^ David Erickson (2014-12-04). "Missoula man's history tied to upcoming Hollywood motion picture". Missoulian. Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  20. ^ Cheryl Strayed. "The Love Of My Life". The Sun Magazine. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  21. ^ http://variety.com/2014/scene/vpage/wild-premiere-laura-dern-cheryl-strayed-reese-witherspoon-bruce-dern-1201361558/

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